Stevia or Erythritol? Information needed..
 

I currently make any and all desired "sweets" with stevia, but a few threads here have interested me in erythritol. I haven't ordered any, but I was wondering if anyone who has eaten and cooked with both stevia and erythritol at various times could give me an idea if it would be worthwhile to try erythritol--and why. What are the differences between the two, the pros and cons of each?

Thanks in advance!

BEst, Sona

Stevia is a natural herb that is used for sweetning. Recently there has been some debeate on it being an insulin trigger.

Erythritol is a new sugar alcohol with almost no calories and the lowest GI of any other sugar alcohol. I cook with it occasionaly. It doesn't always disolve leaving somethings kind of grainy. It also isn't as sweet as sugar so you often have to use a small amount of other sweetner such as splenda or stevia to get a sweet taste. I think it has a funny taste, but that oculd be I'm just not used to sweet things anymore.

The #1 down size to erythritol is I've only found it in small amounts and expencive.

Stevia provides sweetness with almost no bulk. It best use is in foods where only sweetness is desired, such as liquids. Eryhtritol provides bulk on par with White Sugar, so it can replace sugar in some applications where bulk is needed, such as chocolates. Its also about 70% as sweet as sugar, and thus can be used 1:1 in place of sugar [if you don't mind the food being slightly less sweet,] or mixed with a little Stevia to bring it to 100% Sweetness. Some manufacturers also make a Stevia/Erythritol Blend that is 4x as sweet as Sugar, so you would use 1/4 cup in place of 1 cup of Sugar. That would provide some bulk, though not as much as if you had used Eryhtritol on a 1:1 basis.

I would recommend buying some products made with erythritol before buying a large quantity to use in cooking. Only because it's expensive. A lot of people seem to do just fine with it, but if you have ever been sensitive to sugar alcohols, it may have some negative side effects. It messes me up bigtime.

I don't think its the Eryhtritol that causes problems, but the Inulin (Chicory Fiber) they tend to mix it with in some Candies. Inulin and Polydextrose (both are Oligosaccharides, the same soluble fiber found in Beans that make them so musical) both seem to give me gas when I eat more than 2 items containing large amounts of Inulin/Polydextrose.

For example, over the last 28 days I have taken in a total of 1,260g of Fiber (45g/day.) Of that, 571g (20g/day) was from Oligosaccharides (Inulin and Polydextrose). I had gas the whole time. I got the gas even when I ate stuff made with only Oligosaccharides, and no Erythritol. So, I don't think its the Erythritol, but the Inulin/Polydextrose that causes Gas.

For me, it's the erythritol. As far as I know, CarbSlim Bites no not contain any of the stuff you're mentioning. They only have Erythritol and Splenda.

Erythritol has been shown not to have the gastric problems that other sugar alcohols have. I made cheesecake with it this weekend and did notice that it didn't disolve completely in some places in the cake, weird. But I like that it's not as sweet since I don't like things to be so sweet. Also, even though I had a full serving of cheesecake, I had no gastric reaction at all.

I also used it in a mocha I made at home and it was very good.

I also like stevia. I found a powdered form made with FOS, which is very good. I use stevia when I don't need the bulk or sugar 'action.' Erythritol carmelizes, so I'm going to try making a chocolate syrup (a la Hershey's syrup) and maybe some candies for the fun of it.

It's funny, I'm not really a sweets eater, but I've been wanting to experiment lately and I can bring some of my concoctions to parties and potlucks, so it's all good. :lol:

Thank you all! This is very helpful indeed. I haven't been able to find any packaged products with erythritol yet--I mean, so that I can test out its effect(s) on me first before I buy it to cook with. I was hoping to find some ice cream made with it, for instance--but no such luck!

But I may buy it anyway and hope for the best.

Best, Sona

The finer it's ground, the more easily erythritol will dissolve. To me, it has a bit of a "cool" taste with the sweet.

I use small amounts of Stevia occasionally, but I'm a little leery since it doesn't have the safety testing of some of the other sweeteners, at least to my knowledge (if anyone knows of research on this, it would be great to hear about it!).

Hi AndreaBash,

Which flavor of CarbSlim Bites did u try? The cookie dough contains malitol. I did not notice it at first and had the whole box and was suffering for few days.

Then i tried the mint flavor which is sweetened only with erythritol and i am fine. :p

CT

I had the caramel ones. I read the ingredients very carefully because I was only buying them as an experiment to test the impact of erythritol after finding that I'm apparently highly sensitive to sugar alcohols.

I'm a complete lost cause, though. I'll not be buying anything else with SAs ever again. The MiniCarb Splenda-only bars and whatever I can make at home are fine for me at this point.

Walmart sells a erthytol (sp) sweetened bar called Zbar. Hershey's 1 carb bars also use it, but they contain small amounts of malitol as well so it wouldn't be a grest test.

Andrea, what are these Splenda-only bars and do you know where I can buy them? During pregnancy I am avoiding sugar alcohols but would really love a snacky bar-type thing made with Splenda. Thanks!

Hilary,

They are sold under the MiniCarb brand, but I think someone mentioned they were a CarbSense product. I was able to buy some at our LC store.

So far I haven't found anywhere else that carries them (even online). The LC store I use does ship, so I'm sure they could help you. Their number is (847) 816-0738. I doubt they have a large minimum order or anything, since they are a really small operation.

I hope that helps. :)

btw... forgot to mention.. they aren't a snacky bar, they are just chocolate in (I think) 3 varieties.