Anyways, while my husband (who still won’t read my blog…) was napping…I went grocery shopping. While I typically avoid the grocery store like the PLAGUE on Saturday afternoons, I was interested in picking up some of your suggested sugar “substitutes” (be them calorie-free or not). So, here’s what I ended up with: PureVia, Truvia, agave nectar, and turbinado — all per your recommendations! And here’s my cart:
I also picked up dates based of Gina’s recommendation. I’m hoping to make some old fashioned crock pot oatmeal with the dates. Also in there was ingredients for my taste test #2 at work this week with my co-workers. I digress…
When I got home, I figured “Why not try them all and compare!?” So I did. And I took notes.
The contestants…
The set-up
The results!
1. Truvia: silky texture, heavier than Splenda; slightly bitter at first; granular – not powdery, if melted on tongue…tastes like room temperature vanilla ice cream : )
2. turbinado: large, sweet granules; less bold than brown sugar; maple-y
3. agave nectar: prune/date flavored; medium viscosity syrup; no after-taste
4. PureVia: sweeter and more bitter than Truvia; similar in flavor to Sweet’n Low; bitterness subsides
I have to confess that as I was leaving the store with all my new, healthy sugar alternatives…Sonic (which SHARES the parking lot with the grocery store, in my defense!) was having Happy Hour — half-priced fountain drinks and limeades for those of you up north. Sooooooo I might’ve…probably…got a diet cherry limeade. While I know I won’t ever be fully aspartame-free, I do think it’s important to decrease the bad and increase the good in our lives. And for me, that includes diet cherry limeade. I HAVE, however, abstained from diet soda for over 3 weeks! This is huge for me…even though my habit was never more than 12 ounces a day, on average.
Have a wonderful rest of your weekend and enjoy the last football-less Saturday of the year! WOOT!
Yeah! You had a nice little sweetener party 🙂 I am confused though, I thought Truvia and Purevia were the same, just marketed by different companies. Am I wrong?I've seen the signs for Sonic happy hour, and Nick and I will be going sometime soon, I've never been!
Truvia and PureVia are not marketed the same and they CERTAINLY do not taste the same to me. I will have to look into that : )
This reminds me of the 'tasting' sessions we used to have back in college and later in the hospital where I worked. I was very pro-stevia(because it was a not chemically prepared),before the FDA approval.Now I'm not so sure-what do you feel?
I LOVE Sonic… Can you recreate at home yet?
Very informative. I recently found Ideal (yet another sugar-sub) at my grocery store.BTW, my husband doesn't read my blog either 🙂
Truvia and PureVia really aren’t that stevia-based, just so you know. They are different, but they are also similar. Cargill owns Truvia and Mersant/PepsiCo owns PureVia. Both products have a very tiny amount of Rebiana, which is not found in nature, but is chemically derived from stevia glycocides. The rest of the products are sugars. Truvia is 99.1% erythritol, a sugar extracted from corn with alcohol, and PureVia is 99.2% sugars. They are both really sugar product than stevia ones.
Personally, I use SweetLeaf Stevia. It is a very pure stevia product (no Rebiana) and is a pure stevia extract and I like it! the powder is only belended with soluble inulin fiber, a digestive aid (SweetLeaf has been approved by the FDA).