Are You Ready to Step Beyond Stevia?

[digitS']

Want to match those 300 levels of sweetness beyond sugar?!!

Do you live in Hardiness zone 7b or warmer?

Maybe you can!

I could have put this in Herbs but this is a fruit. Have you heard of it? Siraitia grosvenorii - named in honor of Gilbert Grosvenor, who was the editor of the National Geographic magazine for those issues where I first saw an image of an unknown woman's breast . . ! An absolute pioneer in the art & science of photojournalism.

So, what is a Siraitia grosvenorii? Well, it is a vine, a perennial of the Cucurbitaceae (gourd) family, Wikipedia tells us (link). It is also a native of southern China and northern Thailand.

Here is a Reuter's news story about what this vine may do for the soft drink industry: A Sweet Asian to the Rescue of the Troubled Soft Drink Industry (link).

I guess I'm all for sweet Asians rescuing the soft drink industry . . . the poor dears! Anyway, if it is gonna be a zero-calorie, sweetener! Imagine! Americans finally pulling back from their love affair with Soda pop! What's next??

It is my idea that this vine can be grown in zone 7 and above. I see that it was originally grown by monks near Guilin China. That city is renown, I guess, as a home for the Sweet Olive tree and THAT tree is hardy in those parts of the US . (Listen up Major', here's a companion for your berries and kiwi!)

By the way, the tea rose is also native to this part of the world and hybrids are grown everywhere in the US. So . . .



. . . to the monks who grew it and to the botanists who brought it to the West! Maybe, that glass of sweet tea you will be enjoying on some sunny day in the near future, will be sweetened, not with high-fructose corn syrup, or sugar but with Siraitia grosvenorii!

Do you suppose I could have said all this at a time when you actually had a a litte more than a minute away from preparing all those Holiday goodies?!!

Steve

 

[so lucky]

Want to match those 300 levels of sweetness beyond sugar?!!

Do you live in Hardiness zone 7b or warmer?

Maybe you can!

I could have put this in Herbs but this is a fruit. Have you heard of it? Siraitia grosvenorii - named in honor of Gilbert Grosvenor, who was the editor of the National Geographic magazine for those issues where I first saw an image of an unknown woman's breast . . ! An absolute pioneer in the art & science of photojournalism.

So, what is a Siraitia grosvenorii? Well, it is a vine, a perennial of the Cucurbitaceae (gourd) family, Wikipedia tells us (link). It is also a native of southern China and northern Thailand.

Here is a Reuter's news story about what this vine may do for the soft drink industry: A Sweet Asian to the Rescue of the Troubled Soft Drink Industry (link).

I guess I'm all for sweet Asians rescuing the soft drink industry . . . the poor dears! Anyway, if it is gonna be a zero-calorie, sweetener! Imagine! Americans finally pulling back from their love affair with Soda pop! What's next??

It is my idea that this vine can be grown in zone 7 and above. I see that it was originally grown by monks near Guilin China. That city is renown, I guess, as a home for the Sweet Olive tree and THAT tree is hardy in those parts of the US . (Listen up Major', here's a companion for your berries and kiwi!)

By the way, the tea rose is also native to this part of the world and hybrids are grown everywhere in the US. So . . .



. . . to the monks who grew it and to the botanists who brought it to the West! Maybe, that glass of sweet tea you will be enjoying on some sunny day in the near future, will be sweetened, not with high-fructose corn syrup, or sugar but with Siraitia grosvenorii!

Do you suppose I could have said all this at a time when you actually had a a litte more than a minute away from preparing all those Holiday goodies?!!

Steve

Oh yeah, Monkfruit. It's still a little pricy, tho, when I checked it out. Oh dear, what's all the folks who have made their fortunes in KING CORN gonna do?

 

[Smart Red]

I have a bottle of Agave sweetener. Not necessarily sweeter than sugar, but lower in the glycemic indices. Since I'm more of a salty, crunchy eater, a little sweet goes a long way, IMHO.

"Oh dear, what's all the folks who have made their fortunes in KING CORN gonna do?" so lucky

I recently heard that there is a bill in Legislature to stop putting ethanol in gasoline. The reasons? Among others, it raises the cost of food and 'THEY' have found it is harmful to the environment. Gee! No high fructose corn syrup, no ethanol, what ever will they do with all the corn?

 

[bj taylor]

sounds interesting. I like diabetic friendly sweetners - now if someone would just come up with a flour sub I could have all the pastries I want.
I would like to see king corn take a hit. not that I'm against farmers - but I've read how millions of acres a year of conservation land is being plowed for ethanol. land that doesn't support corn at all - so they puts many tons of fertilizer on it to get their corn crop. this fertilizer, of course, ends up in the gulf of mex adding to the dead zone by quite a lot. they say this is an enormous environmental disaster - but the o administration is pushing ahead w/ethanol production/subsidies for exporting

 

[majorcatfish]

stevia is on the list of herbs to plant next year....

 

[digitS']

I grew Stevia, probably, because how was I going to explain being Steve and not . . .

It didn't go so well. I guess it was the slugs that liked it real well in the garden but I didn't care for it in my tea . Later, I found out that there are other folks who didn't like it green but were happy with it dried. It was quite a long time ago. I really owe it to myself to give it another try, but . . .

How about the "monk's fruit, " Major'? Siraitia grosvenorii -- Amazon has it $14 for 6 ounces, dried. Let's see . . . . that's $37/pound.

Steve ?

 

[Elbesta]

I like sugar in my coffee, and I have tried everything, but nothing is as good as cane sugar. If your old enough to remember the song.... C&H...pure cane sugar... from Hawaii... growin" in the sun......

 

[so lucky]

Yeah, pure cane sugar is hard to beat. My DH is always trying to get me to cut the amount of sugar I put in baked goods. I tell him it takes a certain amount to make the cookies have the right texture and feel when baked. I have tried different kinds of sweeteners, stevia being one of them, and just haven't found anything as good as sugar. Consequently, we just eat fewer desserts, snacks, candy, pies......(sob...)

 

[Smart Red]

In college I had a professor who stated he never used C&H sugar, then went into an extensive explanation of the 'evil' done by C&H to overthrow the Hawaiian royal family and make Hawaii an American territory all to the profit of C&H. I was one of those NERDS who actually listened to in class. I still won't purchase the stuff for myself either.

 

[digitS']

I hope the monks fruit doesn't require the horrid air pollution produced by sugar beet factories! I guess I have never seen a sugar cane factory altho' I've found the cane scattered all over the roadways in southern Louisiana on a visit there. It was about this time of year.

My experience with Stevia wasn't a very good one. It tasted "green" in my cup of tea! Later, I learned that the flavor changes after the Stevia has been dried and people generally prefer it that way. It was too late and that dream of a big sugar company never happened . . .

Herb & Steve