I've seen a number of advertisements touting stevia as the sweetener du jour, A gift from the rain forest (listed in Botanica as a semi-arid genus) and a sure-fire answer to our ever expanding waistlines. Not to long ago, this was an herb called sweetleaf. Suddenly, with a little help from Pepsico, a commercial process and FDA approval was found to extract the two sweet glycosides, stevioside and rebaudioside. In fairness, Morita Kagaku Kogyo Co., Ltd. in Japan has been producing a sweetener since '71 so it may actually be a licensing deal. And so another natural product, packaged for your convenience, is born.
How will it affect your kitchen? It's non-fermentable, so no brewed drinks or yeast products will use it. As best as I can tell, it lacks the proper molecular shape to sub for sugar in baked goods, but will do fine as an add on in postproduction. The molecular gastronomy folks will probably find a use. (rebaudioside flecked whipped shea butter formed on a cold grill) The truth is that the product will probably follow the usual arc: Big push, must have, health scare, lots of billable hours reviewing, phew, glad that's over, and finally one more package of stuff you need to keep stocked at the coffee station.
No comments:
Post a Comment