Stevia- why is it so white, when the plant is green?

Themuseinme
Themuseinme Posts: 224 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I found and bought a stevia plant this summer.Its green, like most plants- And am wondering why it is so white when you buy it?
it must be proceessed and bleached- does anyone know??

Replies

  • sleepytexan
    sleepytexan Posts: 3,138 Member
    I have ground stevia and liquid stevia in my cabinet from Whole Foods. They are both green. I have seen white stevia though.
  • cordianet
    cordianet Posts: 534 Member
    http://www.livestrong.com/article/47655-stevia-made/
  • EnchantedEvening
    EnchantedEvening Posts: 671 Member
    Sugar is white, so a lot of the sugar substitutes are white too. It's a psychology thing. People are used to dumping white powder into their coffee, not green.

    Look what happened when they came out with green and blue ketchup. ;)
  • samanthawarren
    samanthawarren Posts: 120
    I don't know the answer to this, but I have a question. How do you like the taste of Stevia? Does it have a strange taste or just add sweetness? My husband uses artificial sweetener and I was thinking about getting this for him.
  • HurricaneElaine
    HurricaneElaine Posts: 984 Member
    Stevia in its raw and unprocessed form is still green; it goes through an extraction process to isolate the sweet glycosides, but no actual bleach or any other chemical whiteners are used. The steviosides are extracted from the natural form using an alcohol-based extraction process, and also membrane filtration, and no alcohol remains in the finished product, as it evaporates.

    @Samantha - I find there IS an unusual aftertaste, especially in coffee. Do a "test-run" first to see if you both like it.
  • RobynC79
    RobynC79 Posts: 331 Member
    It depends on how it is extracted from the plant and what parts of the plant it's derived from (neither of which I know at all).

    If the sweetener is made by grinding or pulping the whole leaf and stem, it should be green since green comes from the chlorophyll, although the chlorophyll itself is unlikely to yield significant sweetness.

    If it's from the sap of the plant (like maple syrup), it should be off-white to brown.

    If it's made like sugar from cane, it should be pale golden-y brown (I guess, since it's primarily the cane stalks that contain the juice which is then extracted, processed and crystallised).

    If it's like corn syrup, I have no idea what colour it should be since corn syrup is not sold in a raw form at all, it's processed heavily.

    It is very unlikely that it would be snow white without some kind of bleaching, though. White is not a very natural colour for plant material to be.
  • HurricaneElaine
    HurricaneElaine Posts: 984 Member
    oops.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    Interesting question and hope you get an answer. I have some growing and not tried to research yet how to use it at home. I'm assuming I dry and grind then sprinkle in my food. Anyone done it yet?
  • greeneyedKat
    greeneyedKat Posts: 88
    I was wondering the same thing. I buy the box of packets and it's called stevia in the raw and it's white. I grew stevia and I harvested it and it is hanging on my herb rack. I am going to grind it up in my coffee grinder. I heard it doesn't. dissolve like the white powder.
  • mockchoc
    mockchoc Posts: 6,573 Member
    I was wondering the same thing. I buy the box of packets and it's called stevia in the raw and it's white. I grew stevia and I harvested it and it is hanging on my herb rack. I am going to grind it up in my coffee grinder. I heard it doesn't. dissolve like the white powder.

    Yes I guess it wouldn't. I might get googling I think!
  • greeneyedKat
    greeneyedKat Posts: 88
    Mockchock I found some videos on youtube. That's where I got the idea about using a coffee grinder to grind the dried stevia. I need to do it soon. My stevia is all dried out now and ready

Categories