subject: Stevi0cal: Process How Is It Made From Stevia Leaves [print this page] Stevi0cal Naturally Sweet is a Zero Calorie, Natural Sweetener made from the leaves of the plant Stevia rebaudiana. Stevia leaves have been used in South America for centuries to sweeten food and bitter drinks. Stevia leaves contain 2 glycosides Stevioside and Rebaudioside which are extremely sweet and have zero calories,unlike sugar which is also sweet but has calories.
However, adding green leaf (either powdered or leaf juice) to recipes in order to sweeten food would not always be recommended, as food with green leaf or juice as a sweetener may not always be appetizing. In order to make the leaf palatable and the food appetizing the leaves require to be processed and for this the sweet glycosides need to be extracted and purified.
The entire process of making Stevi0cal from stevia leaves can be divided into 3 stages:
1)Extraction,
2)Purification, and
3)Dilution.
Extraction: the leaves are dipped in water to extract the glycosides; stevioside and Rebaudioside. The leaf extract so obtained contains Stevioside and Rebaudioside along with other impurities like chlorophyll etc.
Purification: the leaf extract is then purified using a three stage filtration process which does not involve hemicals at any stage during the purification. The resultant liquid contains only Stevioside and Rebaudioside. The liquid is then pray dried to obtain a purified extract which is 250-300 times sweeter than sugar.
Dilution: The purified Stevia Extract is intensely sweet and requires to be diluted in order to reduce the sweetness to manageable proportion, in the case of Stevi0cal it is reduced to 10 times the sweetness of sugar. This is done by adding certain bulking agents to the pure extract. The bulking agents used in preparing Stevi0cal are Isomalt and Vegetable gum which are commonly used bulking agents and are of plant origin.
Stevi0cal thus prepared has Zero calories is Completely Natural, and is a white colored powder which is readily soluble in water as well as alcohol. Other advantages that Stevi0cal has over artificial sweeteners are that it is completely safe for all age groups, is stable at high temperatures, therefore can be baked cooked or boiled, better tasting, safe for Diabetics, best diabetes diet and best sugar free recipes, non fermenting sweetener with high stability over a wide pH range.
Sensory evaluation on Steviocal at the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana recommends that it can be successfully used as a replacement for sugar and has no side effects. The Department of Science & Technology, Ministry of Science & Technology, Govt of India; Diabetes Foundation (India); and National Foundation of Diabetes, Obesity and Cholesterol Disorders (N-DOC) have in a press release stated that Steviocal is a suitable replacement for sugar for Diabetics, and Obese.
