Pure Stevia Extract Powder by Kal - 3.5 oz
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List Price: Our Price: $18.69 You Save: $10.50 (36%) Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours Category: Health Care See more product details |
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Customer Reviews of Pure Stevia Extract Powder by Kal - 3.5 oz
Customer Review: Great value!
Summary: 5 Stars
I love using this Stevia Extract in my tea, I use it lots of the time up to 3 times a day! It tastes great with my Licorice Peppermint Tea (Yogi), however I am sure it would taste great with most teas. It also tastes pretty good when added to oatmeal of any sort and mixed with some fruit. I would be weary of using this Stevia with any form of protein shake/meal replacement, it just doesn't go well. I wanted to try it with Garden of Life's RAW Meal, but the taste did not improve (tasted rather odd with the Stevia). I would however recommend to a small amount to a smoothie with more flavors. I also tried it with water as one of the reviewers stated would be a good idea, and I did not find it pleasant at all.
PROS
+Value (2000+ servings, quite a bit less than a cent per serving) [NOTE: I paid 21.99 for the 3.5oz version, I have seen it for as low at 19.00 with Prime]
+Natural (knowing your not putting aspartame or Spenlda in your body is a major plus)
-Multiple uses (tea, cooking, oatmeal, etc)
-Small serving size provides a lot of flavor.
CONS
+Although KAL does improve upon the bitterness compared to most brands I have tried, there is a still a bitterness factor present, just toned down.
+Needs something to go along with it (did not taste good in water or protein shakes alone).
+Not organic? I can't find anything on the description page about it. I'm still in search of a great tasting organic Stevia extract. I will update this review if I do come across anything.
BOTTOM LINE
Stevia provides a healthy alternative to some of the questionable sweeteners on the market, and with a bit of research and creativity you can find many uses for it. I would much rather put the extract of a natural leaf in my body than some chemically engineered artificial sweetener. Stevia has it's own unique taste, so don't expect it to taste exactly like sugar, but to me it tastes pretty darn good. I could not go back to drinking my tea without it!
Customer Review: The best sweetener on the market at the best value.
Summary: 5 Stars
We absolutely love this stevia in our house and have been using it for about a year now. After reading some of the other reviews, I thought I'd post a review including information on how to measure it. Kal stevia 3.5 oz size comes with a small scoop (some pure stevia products don't and the scoop is really nice to have). We "calibrated" our scoop and found that one scoop of stevia sweetens as well as 1 tbsp of sugar. So, if you like a tbsp of sugar in your coffee then you need a scoop. If you like a teaspoon in your tea, than you need about 1/3 of a scoop (about the size of a grain of rice). This makes sense because we found that there are about 34 "scoops" in a teaspoon, which means about 100 scoops makes a tablespoon. So it is accurate to say that this is 100 times sweeter than sugar. In conclusion:
1. We have found that there is no aftertaste or side effects from using this stevia when it is measured carefully.
2. If you accidentally get a mouthful of too much stevia there IS an aftertaste, so blend it in well.
3. If you accidentally use too much you will get an aftertaste too.
4. This product purchased on Amazon is the best value for stevia that we have found anywhere!
5. One final note, the only dessert I have used this in is rice pudding. The pudding comes out a little less thick, but tastes the same. Use the correlation of 1 scoop of stevia for every tbsp of sugar in your recipe and you should be ok.
Customer Review: Goes a long, long way
Summary: 5 Stars
It took me some time to get used to stevia and learn how to use it both for drinks and baking but now that I have both the taste and know how it is truly a great way to reduce sugar intake. I am not diabetic and have no health concerns that require me to avoid sugar, I just have a huge sweet tooth and use stevia to reduce the amount of sugar I consume for overall long term health. I have found that with this product 1/2 a teaspoon equals a full cup of sugar. I have gotten the best results in baked goods by mixing one or two types of other sweetners with the stevia to equal the amount of sugar called for in the recipe. So, for example, in a recipe that requires 1 cup of sugar, I would use 1/4 tsp stevia (which is like a half cup of sugar) with 1/2 cup of honey or rapadura. Sometimes, if I want to really cut the sugar and calories, I even use a mixture of stevia and organic erythritol. This comes out very good but the organic erythritol is so expensive I don't do it often and the non-organic kind is made from corn, most of which I believe is GMO and heavily sprayed.
One of my favorite uses of this product is in coffee and tea. I use one tiny scoop of stevia, using the handy, long handled scooper included with this product, and one teaspoon of organic erythritol in my very large mug of coffee every morning. Perfect!
Customer Review: More economical, tastier, and purer than packets.
Summary: 5 Stars
I have used Stevia in the Raw packets (which are pretty good for on the go) but this is the one I use at home. I used to need 3 packets of stevia-in the raw to sweeten my tea, but now I only need 1-2 tiny scoops. its about 3.50 for a box of 50 packets, and about 20 dollars for 2000+ scoops, so lets say 2 scoop = 3 packets, then 2000 scoops = 3000 packets = 60 boxes = 210 dollars in packets (other brands like truvia are more expensive too)
Secondly, its purer than all other packets of stevia because the Kal doesn't have any filler in it, hence the tiny scoop. In the packet, the ingredient lists 'dextrose, stevia extract' for Stevia in the raw, which is supposed to have been done to make it more usable since dextrose occupies more volume, or else I guess its kinda hard to package only pure extract. Dextrose, to my knowledge, is NOT calorie-free. So if you use a couple of packets for tea, you will have added maybe 10 cal to it (still better than regular sugar) Purvia and truvia all have fillers in it.
Also, I find the taste to be very good, it reminds me of the sweet tea that comes in a juice box from Asian supermarkets (from makers of Vita) I hope this brand will be available till I die.
And I don't feel bad for using it like I do with splenda, since it is natural.
Customer Review: Best Stevia by Far
Summary: 5 Stars
The other reviewers have said it all. This is the cleanest tasting stevia available, and I've tried most of them. Not bitter, no licorice taste. Not cut with another ingredient--pure. So it takes even less than Stevita which uses xylitol as a filler. I use 1/2 to 1 tsp to replace the sweetness per cup of sugar and then add 2/3 to 1 cup of a wet ingredient like mashed banana or applesauce to make up for the volume of sugar in a recipe. This works quite well for me. Especially when making quick breads or even cookies. Yes, this product is more expensive than some of the others, but since it has no fillers you use far less. The included scoop is wonderful. I use this often and still only have to buy a new bottle every few months. I also use it to make my own "truvia" type blend (that tastes better than the name brand in my opinion). KAL also makes a product that is stevia combined with luo guan (sp?) which is a Chinese fruit that has a natural sweetener that is similar in composition to stevia. You can read about it on Wikipedia. It comes in packets and it has a more maple/brown sugar type flavor. I prefer this product, however, because of it's ease in use in recipes. I don't like the waste associated with packets. I reuse and recycle the plastic bottle this product comes in.