Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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21 of 21 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
All depends I guess, September 24, 2006
Postives:
1.The price is right. Stores in my area charge $14.95 per package. Right now Amazon's price is half that.
2.It is sweet.
Negative:
1. The first package contained small brittle pieces which dissolved easily. The other dozen I've opened have one piece which has the consistency of taffy and does not dissolve with ease. Makes no sense why this would be the case but it is.
Personal opinion:
To me, the taste is so-so. Take a lot to sweeten a 32 oz smoothie. The licorice taste is detectable even if you use small amounts. I like licorice (a lot) but not in the background of everything I sweeten.
I'm not using what I bought but others might find the product to be wonderful. Especially if you absolutely must restrict your intake of sugars. It is very popular in Japan and growing in popularity in the USA. It could be exactly what you are looking for and it certainly is better than any near zero calorie alternatives I've found. I would suggest trying one packet someplace before buying 200 of them.
10-11-06 Update: Wisdom Natural Brands saw this review, emailed me and said they will replace any box which contains hard packages. Because of the weather, they had some product which absorbed water making the Stevia, as I mentioned above, taffy-like. A limited problem apparently. Doesn't affect quality or taste, just makes the product slower to dissolve. Didn't take the company up on the offer as the product is usable, the price was good and the relatives I gave it to like it a lot (one has to restrict sugar..a couple others of us should...).
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33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet and convenient, but very different than artificial sweeteners, December 25, 2006
I bought these as a supplement for the larger containers of plain Stevia, which I use most of the time, and is much more concentrated than these packets. Despite the difficulty dissolving the powder, I am satisfied, because this stuff tastes better than the pink or blue packets of sweetener. (and gives me no weird side effects) In fact, it beats them by miles, adding a light, sweet taste which enhances and doesn't mask the taste of my tea.
It is different than most other sweeteners, if if you don't know the following, you will probably hate this stuff:
1. The fiber seems to be more of a pain than a benefit. As my bulk Stevia has no problem dissolving (at all), I presume that the fiber is the culprit which makes this product a little difficult to use. There are different methods of dissolving this, but it will take a LOT more stirring than "Sweet and Splendid" or whatever you have used before.
2. These packets have the sweetening power of a sugar packet, more or less. If you are used to some other no-calorie sweetener, you will need to use a couple of packets to get the level of sweetening you are used to. However, because the Stevia doesn't mask the taste of your beverage, you might find that using a smaller amount is more than satisfactory. (I don't know if the person tasting licorice got a bad batch, because I've been using this for a long time and never tasted anything but sweetness)
As people all over the world use this dietary supplement without problems, I feel comfortable using it in my beverages. If I were pregnant, I would not use this or any other sweetener except sugar. That's a moot point anyway, because when I was pregnant, my docs forbade the use of tea or coffee, which would be the reason for using these packets in the first place. I defnitely would not give this to children because it is not totally recognized as safe. Besides, children generally have no need to use artificial sweeteners of any kind. (If my child was diabetic, that would be another story. I would consult with the child's doctor, who would hopefully "bless" this stuff, which seems to have far fewer problems than the sweeteners in the other packets.
The upshot is -- these are convenient for travel, and the foil packets seem to have solved the "hard as a rock" problem. Stevia is slightly different than other sweeteners, and needs more stirring to dissolve. Give plain bulk Stevia a try for home use. It is much more concentrated, and because it doesn't have fiber, it dissolves instantly.
Sorry for all the "I" and "me" statements in this review. Normally, there is other information one can refer to, even when writing an opinion. However, there doesn't seem to be much information out there, except for that published by people selling Stevia, who aren't the most objective people. The rest of the info I have found is anecdotal, like my review, and cannot substitute for good, double-blind studies. I believe that Stevia is safe, especially in reasonable quantities (a teaspoon or two a day). Until some definitive studies prove the safety of Stevia, I wouldn't use it in the huge quantities of sweeteners that Americans use each day.
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15 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very cheap price, July 18, 2006
Stevia is a great product. We use it in tea instead of sugar. We have researched many natural substitutes and found only Stevia to be without any side effects. New Season's store sells 100 pack box for $12 which is double of Amazon's price.
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