Help me find an artificial sweetener!

Cafe Society
1

My favorite summer beverage is a cool glass of iced coffee - perfect for those mornings when you’re already sweaty upon waking up. I keep a pitcher of it in my fridge, but this year I decided that (given how much I drink) I oughta use artificial sweetener instead of sugar.

Well, when I went to the grocery store (the admittedly small one near my house) I couldn’t find much. $5 for a hundred packets of either Equal (aspartame) or Splenda (sucralose). I ended up buying “Equal Spoonful”, which is aspartame mixed with a pretty substantial amount of maltodextrin so that it measures the same as table sugar. It’s about half as expensive as the packets, but it’s not ideal.

The maltodextrin, for starters, has some calories, even if it’s light enough that I’m not eating a ton of it. Plus, it’s just plain hard to dissolve in the coffee - it turns into an immiscible foam floating on top. Furthermore, a pitcher requires like half a cup of this stuff, which means that a bottle ($2.25 or so, so it’s not breaking the bank) only lasts for about five pots of coffee, and that’s just inconvenient.

Do they sell more convenient formulations of either aspartame or sucralose? I prefer sucralose, but if there’s a way to get a hold of less dilute aspartame, that’d work fine. I’d just like something loose - not in expensive packets - that comes in slightly bigger packages, with less carrier. Should I go to a specialty shop? Would a larger grocery store have a better selection?

2

I’d check around. My local large grocery store has Splenda in a box with a pour spout. I’ve gotten it at Target, too. It’s still expensive relative to sugar, but cheaper than the packets.

3

You can also get Splenda in a big “baker’s bag”. It’s expensive, but it tends to last. It’s bulked with Maltodextrin as well, but it measures just like sugar. We’ve not had any dissolving problems in cold or hot liquids.

You might look in to stevia, which is not FDA approved, but can be found in low-carb sections of mega-marts or herbal shops.

4

Grr . . . I understand that some people bake with the stuff, but is it so inconceivable to the manufacturers that some of us can do basic math - and thus don’t really want to have to add all that filler to our food?