Review of Truvia
Jul 26th, 2008 by Sandra
I just received a box of Truvia that I had ordered after reading some of the reviews and watching the videos its premiere in New York City.
All I can say is WOW. My son was bold and took the first bit and said, “It tastes just like sugar.” I couldn’t believe it when I tried it. While to me it’s not exactly like sugar, it’s a wonderful sweet taste with absolutely no after taste. This has opened up a whole new world to me of being able to make some treats for myself. The idea of being without chocolate has been a bit depressing but with Truvia I’m sure I can find a way to make things like chocolate ice cream. I told my son that if this stuff was good I was going to invest in a small ice cream maker.
I’m hoping that Truvia can be substituted one-for-one in recipes that call for Splenda. Going to have to do a bit of surfing to see what I can find. I just found a conversion chart on the Truvia site here.
My guess is that now that Cargill has created a sweetener from stevia that it will get FDA approval soon. Or maybe the compound that they extracted from this specific stevia they have cultivated. But that should open the door for all the others. And one thing I’m really looking forward to is a Diet Coke made with Truvia. That would be incredible. Now if someone could just make a potato chip that was no-carb I’d be set.
I really can’t say enough about how pleased I am with Truvia and plan to look for some recipes to try it in.
[...] from:Review of Truvia [...]
Truvia is not that sweet to me. It smells like cotton candy (probably because of the high amount of erythritol (a corn sweetener). And it doe have a slight aftertaste. You should try SweetLeaf Sweetener. It tastes cleaner, sweeter and has absolutely no aftertaste. Plus it’s the only zero calorie, zero carb, and zero glycemic index sweetener. Truvia has 3 carbs.
Steve, thank you for the information. I’ll give SweetLeaf a try. Part of why this blog is “my way” is that I want to try out most things I come across.
I have been drinking Truvia soda for a few months. I wish they came out with a ginger ale. I love the orange.
Thanks for stopping by and posting a comment, Shiela. I think you’re referring to Zevia. I ordered the sample six-pack and I’m afraid it’s not for me. I have a very sensitive pallet, I guess, because there was a strange after taste. There was a nice sweetness about mid-section on my tongue, but further back there was something close to the aftertaste I get with things like Diet Coke. But, I’m glad that others are enjoying it. I’ll just have to keep on looking.
I have yet to try Truvia, but I have used stevia liquid for years. It is DEFINATELY my favorite sugar substitute. It has a clean crisp taste, more like sugar then either aspartame, sucralose, or saccharine. Plus, I love the fact that is is all natural, even though I know that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s without side effects but I have not experienced any. All the sugar substitutes I’ve tried were never sweet enough to me, and stevia has been no different, although I think it’s sweeter then the alternatives. I definately reccomend stevia and brand name stevia sweeterners such as Truvia.
I just got a sample of Truvia in the mail and wanted to know what other low-carbers thought of it. It’s kind of meaningless to say it has carbs as if that is a bad thing, when on a nutrition label “carbohydrate” basically means “anything that isn’t fat, protein, vitamins, or minerals.” Fiber is a carbohydrate by that definition, but it does nothing to blood sugar. Soluble fiber isn’t even counted the same as regular fiber, but as a regular non-fiber carb instead. (This is why you see pectin in the ingredients list for, say, jelly, and there are more grams of carbs than grams of sugar, but there are no grams of fiber counted.)
So whether Truvia having three grams of carbs per packet really matters depends on whether you can digest and utilize erythritol. If you can’t, then the number is meaningless and shouldn’t go into your net carb count for the day, if you’re tracking that.
Personally I’m thrilled that someone has improved the flavor of erythritol, which I could barely taste by itself. I have yet to taste a stevia blend that didn’t have that licorice aftertaste (including Sweet Leaf!), and while I’ve been using sucralose a lot, I hate that it’s packaged with maltodextrin and dextrose in the two forms of Splenda. So this is a nice alternative, at least for coffee. Now if they will just drop the price… or if Kroger will come up with their own version.
I found this through google! I’m curious about Truvia and wonder how healthy it is. I’ve tried Stevia and didn’t like it at all, so I’m hoping I’ll like Truvia better.
Thank you to everyone for your comments.
Cynthia, I don’t use a lot of Truvia – mostly for my strawberries that I get every-so-often – but I do like it. There is a slight “after taste” but I’m so sensitive to everything that I might notice something that another wouldn’t notice.
I’m going to try one of the liquid Stevias and there’s also another powdered version of Stevia that’s coming out – like Truvia that’s from Pepsi. I’m looking forward to seeing a new “diet” cola by Pepsi and Coke. Coke is one of my “most missed” items.
I have started to experiment with Truvia. Here is my recipe for hot chocolate:
2 cups half and half (10.5 % milkfat)
1 – 3.5 oz bar of Lindt Excellence 85% Cocoa chocolate bar
3 packets of Truvia (3.5g each packet)
I keep the chocolate bars in the refrigerator so if I smack one on the counter a few times it breaks up into small pieces which I put in a mixing bowl along with the Truvia. I heat the milk up to almost scalding temperature and whisk the hot milk into the mixing bowl. I return the hot chocolate to the pan and reheat to serving temperature.
This is also delicious mixed 1/3 hot chocolate, 2/3 black coffee.
Per 8 oz cup of hot chocolate – 50 grams of fat, 12 grams of protein, 16 grams net carbs.
I’m going to try ice cream with Truvia next. I’ll use higher milkfat cream/milk combo and that will reduce the carbs somewhat.
Philip Thackray
I’m back to report that I HAVE been using Truvia for about a month now. I think that it has a much milder aftertaste then some other stevia products I’ve used, but unlike you Cynthia, I think I’m a lot less particular about taste. I will DEFINATELY continue buying and using Truvia and I look forward to the day when diet sodas are sweetened with it.
I tried Truvia and liked it but now I found something better. Stevia Extract in the Raw It is similiar to Truvia but it is less expensive and does not have sugar alcohol in it. Check out their website at http://www.steviaextractintheraw.com
steve: Truvia has zero affect on the glycemic index, and I tried your SweetLeaf Sweetener before Truvia, it had a terribly bitter aftertaste, I foolishly tried it in cereal and I threw it away upon first taste.
You seem to be peddling on behalf of the company.
I’ve been using Truvia for a while now, I still have some questions as to where the crop comes from(Hopefully not China) and how the Erythritol is gathered, which is usually through yeast.
So far it passed the fruit test, the drink test, the cereal test, none of which Splenda or SweetLeaf passed, leaving a nasty aftertaste when melding with the other flavors, Truvia has a kind of light and airy aftertaste that’s slightly sweet, which I imagine is the vanilla, I’m hoping it passes the final ice cream/Popsicle test.
I also really enjoy Truvia, but only in cold drinks, as I have noticed it seems to disappear in my hot coffee or any other hot beverage..anyone else notice this? This is disappointing to me because I love my big mug of decaf coffee upon awakening, and it would be great if I could use Truvia in it, but alas, it just loses most of it’s sweetening power in any hot beverage, or at least for me it does. I also can’t wait until someone makes a soda with it that is affordable, unlike Zevia soda with it’s outrageous price of over a dollar a can…! I should look into maybe getting one of those home soda makers and try making seltzer with Truvia, or anything that I can replace my regular soda with…any ideas on this folks? But the best way I enjoy Truvia is simply by dipping orange pieces in it and then popping them in my mouth -it tastes exactly like sugar this way! =)