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Stevia, also known as stevia glycoside and commonly known as stevia, is a new type of natural sweetener extracted from stevia (or stevia leaf), an herb of the Asteraceae family.123 The following will be a detailed description of its source, composition, properties, characteristics, safety and scope of use in various aspects: 

Source and Composition 

Plant Source: Stevia is originally from Paraguay and Brazil, and is now cultivated in China, Singapore, Nowadays, it is also grown in China, Singapore, Malaysia and other countries. Stevioside is a kind of glycoside extracted from the leaves of stevia.

Composition: The sweet component consists of stevioside and stevia A glycoside, B glycoside, C glycoside, D glycoside and E glycoside.

Physical and Chemical Properties 

Appearance and Status: white to slightly yellow crystalline powder or granule, with cool sweet odor.

Solubility: soluble in water, in the air will quickly absorb moisture, solubility at room temperature more than 40%.

Stability: stable in acid and salt solutions, more stable nature at room temperature. Very stable in pH 3 - 10 range, easy to store. Good solution stability, in the general beverage food pH range, heat treatment is still very stable. In the organic acid containing sucrose solution stored for half a year with little change; in the acid and alkali medium does not decompose, can prevent fermentation, discoloration and precipitation.

Characteristics 

High sweetness: the sweetness is 250 - 450 times that of sucrose, but with a slight astringent flavor, stevia A glycoside with obvious bitterness and a certain degree of astringency and menthol flavor, taste characteristics to be worse than stevia disaccharide glycoside A, moderately palatable, the aftertaste of the pure product is less, it is the closest to granulated sugar as a natural sweetener, but the concentration of a high level of off-flavors will have a strange sense. The sweetness of the purified Rebaudioside A sugar is about 450 times sweeter than sucrose, with a better taste.

Low calorie: It is not absorbed after consumption and does not produce calories, so it is a good natural sweetener for diabetes and obesity patients.

Flavor synergy: with citric acid or glycine and good taste; with sucrose, fructose and other sweeteners, taste quality is better. When it is used with citric acid, tartaric acid, amino-acids, etc., it has the effect of killing the aftertaste of steviol glycosides, so it can play the role of correcting the flavor when mixed with the above substances, and improve the quality of the sweet taste of steviol glycosides.

Dissolution characteristics: dissolution temperature and sweetness of the taste of the relationship between the general low-temperature dissolution of high sweetness; high-temperature dissolution after the taste of good but low sweetness.

Safety 

The acute toxicity test of Stevia shows that the oral LD50 of stevia crystals in mice is 16g/kg. Preclinical and clinical studies have shown that the use of stevia extract is safe for the general population, including diabetics, children and pregnant women, as well as people with unknown side effects or allergies. It has been consumed by residents of its origin (Paraguay, Brazil and other places in South America) for hundreds of years, and no toxic effects have been found so far.

China's National Standard for Food Safety, Standard for the Use of Food Additives (GB2760 - 2014) clearly stipulates the scope of use and the amount of steviol glycosides.

Scope of use 

Food field: it can be used in all kinds of food, such as candy, pastry, beverage, solid beverage, fried small food, seasoning, candied fruit and so on. It can also be used in the production of chewing gum, bubble gum and candies with various flavors; it is used in the manufacture of hard candy together with lactose, maltose syrup, fructose, sorbitol, maltitol and lactone sugar. In addition, it can be used in canned food (canned fruits, aquatic products and canned meat, etc.), pickled products (radish and other pickles, squash), aquatic products (canned fish, kelp, etc.), and meat food (sausage, ham, bacon, etc.), which can play the role of seasoning, antiseptic, prolonging the shelf life, and improving the flavor.

Beverage field: It can be used in soft drinks, orange juice, various fruit juices, ice cream, beer, fruit wine, white wine and other beverages. It can be used in beverages to increase the sweetness, reduce the pungency of wine, and increase the whiteness and durability of beer foam.

Other fields: It can also be used in cigarettes, milk powder and other products, and can also be used as a ripening agent for fruits and vegetables, and used for salt-free storage of foodstuffs.