There are many varieties of Stevia sweeteners. The most natural are dried leaves of the Stevia plant. They are especially good for sweetening tea. Liquid Stevia concentrates and Stevia in tablet or powder form are more widely available.

These products are also more versatile. Due to the different product types, there is no generally valid answer to the question of correct use.

By the way, in supermarkets you will also find a variety of foods that contain Stevia as a sweetener. The natural sweetener can make cola, liquorice, jam or chocolate significantly lower in calories.

When buying Stevia in the supermarket, pay attention to the ingredients!

When buying on the internet, there are also a large number of sellers on platforms such as Ebay or Amazon. Especially with these offers, you should not be blinded by the price. Many Stevia products are not approved by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).

For consumers, these offers are often very difficult to recognise. In addition, they often come from the Far East. Again and again, ingredients are not listed according to the legal guidelines.

Tip: Check the imprint of the supplier and whether they can be reached by telephone if you have any questions! Here, too, you should pay attention to the ingredients.

Which form of Stevia is better or worse depends solely on the use. Stevia sweetener tablets, for example, are ideal for coffee, tea and other hot drinks.

The sweetener blend Stevia consists of the main components rebaudioside A and stevioside. A high proportion of stevioside often leads to a bitter aftertaste in the composition.

If you want to avoid this, make sure that the product contains an appropriate high percentage (e.g., Rebaudioside-A98%) of Rebaudioside-A, which has a very sweet taste.

In order to obtain approval from the European Union, Stevia was subjected to a thorough health safety assessment. The ADI value calculated in this process is 4 mg of Stevia per kg of body weight. The ADI value describes the amount that is not harmful to health even if occasionally exceeded.

A closer look reveals that Stevia also has disadvantages:

- It is especially important to pay attention to the ingredients of the respective product before buying. Some products made with Stevia are supplemented with conventional sugar.

- Some people find the taste of Stevia rather unpleasant.

- Not every form of Stevia is equally heat-resistant and therefore suitable for baking or cooking.

It is not easy to make a statement about whether Stevia is useful or not. Especially people who generally use artificial, synthetic sweeteners (such as aspartame, cyclamate or sucralose) may find Stevia a good alternative, as Stevia is of plant origin.

Is Stevia suitable for diabetics? When consuming Stevia, insulin levels do not rise. Therefore, Stevia is used in the production of many diabetic-suitable foods.

Due to the different types of products, there is no generally valid answer to the question of the right use. Here we give you helpful tips on what to look for when buying Stevia.

There are many varieties of Stevia sweeteners. The most natural are dried leaves of the Stevia plant. They are especially good for sweetening tea.

Stevia leaves are available in different types, also in organic quality, as whole dried leaves, tea fine cut or micro-fine ground.

There is a wide range of liquid Stevia concentrates and Stevia liquid sweeteners. Unfortunately, products that you can buy in supermarkets or drugstores very often contain added fructose, dextrose or even flavourings.

Bottle caps with (1) and without tamper-evident cap (2).

What is a tamper-evident cap?

A tamper-evident cap is often also called a guarantee cap or first-opening guarantee. Most people know it from beverage bottles.

The closure rings that must first be torn open before the bottle cap can be turned. It is a breakable plastic ring on the bottle. Only when the bottle cap is turned for the first time does the lower locking ring come off the cap.

Tamper-evident closures are used to indicate the integrity, tampering or breakage of a package.

Reputable suppliers do not offer products without tamper-evident closures.

They show you that the products are manufactured according to strict HACCP guidelines (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) as well as the IFS Food Standard, a standard recognised by the GFSI (Global Food Safety Initiative) for auditing food manufacturers.

Here we give you tips on what to look out for:

Are exact ingredients declared? Very often they are not declared correctly! Liquid sweeteners always need a preservative. Without it, sweeteners are the ideal breeding ground for germs, bacteria and viruses.

Take a close look at the bottle caps! Why? Do not buy liquid sweeteners if the bottle does not have a tamper-evident cap!

The most important thing to know first: There are no Stevia sweetener tablets that are 100% Stevia. Do not be fooled by such offers. The maximum value is usually between 12% and 25%.

For the production of sweetener tablets you always need so-called carrier and tabletting additives. Without these, the production of tablets is not possible.

The most commonly used carriers are Sorbitol, lactose (milk sugar), carboxymethyl cellulose, isomalt, erythritol, sodium hydrogen carbonate or dextrose.

Addition of flavours: Stevia tablets are often made with flavours, especially vanilla flavours. The addition can often be an indicator that high-quality Stevia extracts are not used in the production process. These are primarily used to mask the taste, sweetness.

These are not offered in supermarkets or drugstores. In individual cases, they are available in organic shops. However, this is often only the lowest quality (usually only Rebaudiosid-A 40% or even only 25%). These extracts are often overpriced.

You can find good pure Stevia extracts on the internet. However, you should look carefully at the suppliers. Often, the suppliers are media or advertising agencies or traders on Ebay who offer many articles from the drugstore sector.

These sellers often do not have the necessary knowledge in the area of Stevia. Many of them do not specialise in this field and are usually only out to make a quick buck.

Stevia extract is particularly pure and up to 450 times sweeter than sugar. Therefore, you should always dose and sweeten this type of Stevia carefully to avoid making food inedible.

Only buy Stevia from suppliers who specialise in Stevia. Make sure that pure Stevia extracts are labelled with the exact specification and quality.

This is the only way to compare products. The purity of steviol glycosides must be at least 95%. For the higher quality Stevia extract Rebaudiosid-A, you should only buy qualities of more than 60% because of the taste.

Look at the imprint of the seller and whether a telephone number is given. So that you can contact the seller directly if you have any questions.

Stevia as a spoonable sweetener is mainly suitable for baking due to its sugar-like consistency, while the liquid version is better for desserts, quarks or yoghurt.

Stevia granules are a mixture of erythritol and Stevia. This crystalline form of the natural sweetener is very easy to dose and is also known as a spoonable sweetener. It is particularly heat-resistant and for this reason can also be used for cooking or baking.

Stevia spoonable sweeteners completely replace the sugar in the baking recipe, so it can be used 1:1 as in the original recipe.

Stevia crystalline spoonable sweetener without maltodextrin!

Caution: There are also spoonable sweeteners with maltodextrin! These products consist of more than 95% maltodextrin and are cheap in relation to the Stevia crystalline spoonable sweetener.

Per 100 grams of maltodextrin, there are 95 grams of carbohydrates, which corresponds to about 380 kilocalories (kcal). Look at the small print of the ingredients list to see which ingredients are used.