Also, using Splenda would cost me more than twice as much, since I need two packets to equal one S&L, and Splenda costs more per packet too.
I continue to buy this stuff in such quantities, probably because my grandmother does, and my mother does. If there’s an aftertaste, I don’t know about it. And what’s this red packet-yellow packet nonsense? It’s pink I tell you!
Diet Colas seem to be an acquired taste. You can train yourself to enjoy them in my experience.
Sweet & Low dissolves much better in cold beverages.
Maybe it’s the way my tongue is wired, but I’ve never noticed any aftertaste.
My question would be, “why is Nutrasweet still around?” What use does it serve that is not met by Sweet & Low or Splenda?
Sweet and Low: A Family Story, by Rich Cohen is a fascinating book by a member of the family that invented the stuff.
Sweet and Low was the best of the early artificial sweeteners. People who get used to one taste don’t want to switch. (That’s the same reason advertisers don’t want to market to older consumers.)
I’m a Splenda person myself. I’ve never been able to drink any diet beverages before. Even so, I find many of the presweetened sucralose drinks to have a horrible taste or aftertaste. I have taste sensitivities.
Many people do have these. There’s a whole science out there of supertasters and the like. Large segments of the population taste foods, or the taste bud components of foods, in wildly different ways. You can’t give them all the same product or the same formulation, because some sizable minority will find it unpalatable.
Some people don’t like chocolate!
I’m a pink person, too. I like the weird taste, especially in hot tea. Mmm.
About the only place I use artificial sweetener (as in, adding it myself to something) is coffee at work. Our office stocks all three colors of packets - pink, yellow, and blue.
I usually use the pink stuff - which I gather is Sweet ‘N’ Low :smack: - but as that comment will tell you I don’t usually read the label. I think I’ve tried all three and didn’t notice much of a difference; to be honest I couldn’t tell you why I fell into the “pink” habit. Perhaps a slight taste preference a couple of years ago, now forgotten?
My wife is urging me to switch to Splenda (yellow?).
Much like ZipperJJ I used to hate diet sodas, and several years ago forced myself to switch for caloric reasons. Now I love Diet Coke, cannot stand regular Coke (“How the hell did I used to drink this?!?”), and find I’m not that fond of Coke Zero because it tastes too much like the regular stuff.
I made the same switch from regular to diet soda, and now I can’t go back either. I switched into Nutrasweetened sodas, though, and I do think they’re more “metallic” in taste than those with Splenda.
For that reason, I avoid the blue packets myself, but people differ. As George Orwell said, “Some of us use more Equal than others.”
The real question is why anyone would use any of those when Stevia is available.
Oh wait. It’s approved in every most every industrialized country except the United States. Silly FDA.
Seriously, there are some studies cited that suggest genotoxic properties, most of which were questionable, one of which could have also classified distilled water as a carcenogin. Stevia is regarded by WHO as completely safe.
My own tastebuds are extremely sensitive to bitterness (which is why I’ve never been able to get down things like broccoli or other dark green vegetables, and walnuts). Sweet & Low and other saccharine products have, for me, an extremely bitter aftertaste.
Maybe why I like it. I love bitter.
Splenda is the only artificial sweetener that doesn’t gross me out. One of the others I think I have an allergy or a sensitivity to, because it gives me a screaming headache. I figured this out when I was a kid; every time my grandfather gave me one of his tasty mint candies, I’d end up with a really bad headache. I ate them anyway sometimes, because they were so yummy. I want to say it was aspartame but I’m not sure? This would have been the early '80s and they came in a roll kind of like Lifesavers, but they were square. And white. With a round dent in the middle on both sides. What were those?
Yep, the “packets are red” mention is the most mystifying part of this whole debate to me.
I believe those would be BreathSavers: http://www.hersheys.com/products/details/breathsavers.asp
Am I the only one here that uses two sweeteners? My preference is for equal amounts of Sweet ‘n’ Low and aspartame. The pink stuff starts out real sweet, and the blue stuff ends real sweet. For me, it has a nice balance. I’ve taken to carrying a few packets of whatever the restaurant doesn’t carry when I go out (when I know in advance which they carry). I REALLY like my decaf iced tea with both sweeteners.
I’ve grown accustomed to Sam’s Club diet decaf cola from Wal-Mart (and, I assume, Sam’s Club). You have to become accustomed to the flavor anyway, so I figured I’d get hooked on a cheap one! It’s a sweet cola that uses aspartame, and for the past several years, it’s my favorite. I still like regular Coke, when I want a treat.
I believe you’re referring to Velamints, which were apparently purchased by Wrigley and discontinued. I think they were sweetened with sugar alcohols…due to some G/I distress they caused in me, but I can’t find information about their formulation anywhere.
The folks I know who prefer Sweet & Low usually tell me it’s because “it’s sweeter.” They say once you get used to it you can’t get your drink as sweet with aspartame, splenda, even sugar, even if you use a lot. I’ve noticed this myself, but I prefer less sweet and no aftertaste.
Sweet & Low is the only sweetener I will use in coffee. I prefer it even to real sugar. I don’t like Equal and absolutely can’t stand Splenda.
Sweet & Low does have a definite chemical aftertaste, but I’ve learned to like it.
Yeah, it is sweeter than sugar to me. I generally use a 2:1 mix of Sweet&Low and sugar, and that seems to get my tea sweet without an aftertaste. My husband gives me funny looks when I do this, but it’s what works for me.
Indeed it is. The color pink is so synonymous with Sweet 'n Low that they’ve used the Pink Panther as a mascot for the past few years.