"STEVIA"
A BRIEF HISTORY
It was Antonio Bertoni who first discovered Stevia in 1887. Originally considered a part of the daisy family, it was re-assigned to the chrysanthemum (Asteraceae) family in the Eupatorieae Tribe in 1905. Bertoni learned of the herb and its curious sweetening properties form the Guarani Paraguayan Indians, Mestizos and others who had used it to sweeten bitter beverages, particularly mate.í Stevia was known locally as Caaí-ehe or Kaaíhe-E which can be translated as "sweet-herb" or "honeyleaf.." By the turn of the century, it was well-known and widely used by herbalists in Paraguay as a sweetener in teas.
By 1901, a man named C. Gosling, who was the British Consul at Asuncion, was able to write: This plant, which has been known to the Indians (Guarani) for a hundred years or more and whose secret has as usual been so faithfully guarded by them, grows in the Highlands of Amambai and near the source of the River Monday... The leaves are small and the flower still more diminutive, and the Indians call it Caaí-ehe, meaning sweet herb, because of its sweetness, a few leaves being sufficient to sweeten a strong cup of tea, giving also a pleasant aromatic flavor.
In an article entitled "Composition of Empatorium Rebaudiana (Stevia)" written for the June 1909 edition of Chemist and Druggist, Karl Dieterich wrote that the sweet plant of Paraguay, also known as honey yerba, is used in an area where it is found to sweeten mateí. He also noted that the species had been successfully cultivated in Paraguay by 1909.
Two French chemists named Bridel and Lavieille began to unravel the secret of Stevia in 1931 with exploratory extraction work on Stevia Rebaudiana leaves. Their research yielded a pure white crystalline compound which they named "Stevioside" which was recovered at a six percent yield. They found this substance to be 300 times sweeter than table sugar and without apparent toxic effects in various experimental animals.
In 1941, because of the scarcity of sugar and other sweeteners in England due to the German submarine blockade, a substitute sweetener was sought out which could be cultivated in the British Isles. The Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew commissioned an R. Melville to research Stevia as a likely possibility.
Melvilleís report shows that he believed Stevia Rebaudiana could be just the substitute for which they were looking.
Melville reported:
(That the leaves of Stevia) have long been used by the native of Paraguay for sweetening their mateí and as a general sweetening agent. Their use has been suggested for sweetening beer, tobacco and instead of sugar in drinks for hot climates. Later, the possibility of employing the leaves or the extracted sweet principals was considered for sweetening foods...Two or Three leaves are enough to sweeten a cup of tea or coffee.
From its humble and relatively obscure "discovery" in Paraguay at the turn of the century, Stevia has blossomed into a major export crop and is now cultivated in over a dozen countries world-wide. Stevia usage is even more widespread with nearly every industrialized country now consuming a portion of the worldís Stevia crop. It is estimated that 650-700 tons of dried Stevia Rebaudiana Plants were used in 1981 to make Stevioside extracts.
The largest user remains Japan which began cultivating Stevia plants in hothouses in 1954. When the Japanese government banned certain artificial sweeteners due to health concerns in the late sixties, the use of Stevia as a natural alternative increased dramatically. Steviaís usage has also increased due to the health concerns of Japanese consumers toward sucrose, related to dental caries, obesity and diabetes.
By 1987, a total of 1700 metric tons of Stevia leaves were harvested to yield an estimated 190 tons of Stevioside extract. By 1988, extracts of Stevia had captured 41%, by value, of the Japanese high-potency sweetener market. Most of this material was processed through eleven major Stevia manufacturers who have collectively formed the Stevia Association of Japan.
Japanese food processors use Stevia in a wide variety of applications. The major usage is surprisingly with salty foods where Stevioside has been shown to suppress the pungency of sodium chloride. This combination is common to the Japanese diet in such foods as pickled vegetables, dried sea foods, soy sauce and miso products. It is also used in beverages, including (until recently) the Japanese version of Diet Coke. Stevia has also been used in candies and gums, baked goods and cereals, yogurt and ice cream, ciders and teas, and toothpastes and mouthwashes. Of course, a significant portion of Japanese Stevia is consumed directly as a tabletop sweetener.
The Japanese have also pioneered the purification of Stevia extracts into other sweet-tasting glycosides besides Stevioside. These include: Rebaudiosides A, B, C, D, and E; Dulcoside A Steviolbioside. Rebaudioside A and E are particularly noteworthy since they have a more refined sweet taste than Stevioside with less of the characteristic bitter aftertaste. Many "recipes" and extractive processes for Stevia glycosides have been patented in Japan as well as combinations of Stevia with other natural and synthetic sweeteners. One common combination of sweeteners is Stevioside with the licorice extract, glycyrrhizin, which results in the improved taste qualities of both sweeteners.
Food technologists in Japan have also discovered a great deal of important information relative to Steviaís application in food processing. First of all, Stevioside and other extracts of Stevia are relatively stable during heat processing in comparison to other natural and synthetic supersweeteners. One study in 1977, showed very low decomposition levels in a variety of pH conditions when Stevioside was heated to 100 degrees for up to twenty-four hours. It has also been shown that Stevia extracts are non-fermenting and do not contribute to the browning reaction of cooked or baked goods as do many natural sweeteners.
Another advantage of Stevia is that it does not form precipitates in an acid solution, making it a compatible sweetener for carbonated soft drinks. Finally, many formulations and mixtures of Stevia extracts have been developed in order to highlight specific tastes profiles such as a product developed for frozen desserts which require light but steady sweetness. In this and many other industrial applications, Stevia extracts and Stevedores have show themselves to be versatile sweetening ingredients.
Stevioside has also been approved as a food additive in South Korea and is widely available in China, Taiwan and Malaysia. In China, teas are made from the Stevia leaves which are recommended " for increasing the appetite, as a digestant for losing weight, for keeping young and as a sweet tasting low-caloric tea."
In Paraguay and Brazil, Stevia is widely touted as a remedy for diabetes, although current scientific evidence does not adequately support this claim. It is also used extensively in black teas and herbal teas as well as other food applications. Once again, a significant portion in these countries as a tabletop sweetener.
When the re-emergence of Stevia into the U.S. market, numerous possibilities exist for the development of Stevia food products. However, the hurdle of obtaining GRAS status for Stevia as a food additive remains a formidable one. The health food industry has been striving to overcome this hurdle since 1991 when a Stevia Committee was formed under the auspices of the American Herbal Products Association. Thus far, despite of tremendous amount of scientific research and documentation, the FDA has not accepted the filing of the Stevia GRAS petition.
If the petition is accepted, several of the U.S. food giants are waiting in the wings to exploit the marketing potential of this all-natural, low-calorie, sugar-free supersweetener. One rumor has it that a U.S.-based company which markets a competitive synthetic product is already purchasing Stevia fields in Southern Ontario. If this is true, the floodgates may be ready to open, based on the surge of public opinion and scientific evidence supporting Stevia.
Reproduced with permission from David Richardís Book:
Stevia Rebaudiana Natureís Sweet Secret.
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