There is a thread over in IMHO about stevia. This appears to be the sort of thing that you think is either the best stuff ever, or is just nasty. I personally don’t care for it, but I won’t judge you if you do.
My own favorite is Splenda. I prefer sugar-free drinks, and of the major commercially-available sweeteners, Splenda is the one that has the least chemical taste. If I can’t have Splenda, I go with Equal. I’ll use saccharine if I’m desperate, but I’ll often use sugar before I use saccharine. When I cook, though, I’ll use sugar. If I’m going to eat something I shouldn’t, I may as well go all the way.
So I’m curious as to what you use, and how you use it.
I like Splenda packets for my coffee, but I don’t use them for anything else. Sodas sweetened with Splenda seem decent too, but the hype declaring it Splenda to be a better soda sweetener than aspartame seems overblown.
I used to use powered Stevia, but I’ve since moved over to Splenda. But I’ve quit using the granular bagged Splenda since they bulk it out with maltodextrose - aka sugar. Instead, I buy liquid sucrulose in 4 oz bottles. A drop is roughly equal in sweetening power to a teaspoon of sugar.
Splenda all the way, baby. When Diet Coke with Splenda was available for a year or so, I was in heaven. Now I have to make do with Coke Zero, which blows away regular Diet Coke, but I still jones for some Splenda Diet…TRM
I assume that honey is lumped in with sugar, here?
Anyway, I’ve never had an artificial sweetener that I found palatable. The only time I’ll ever drink diet pop is if it’s really hot out, I desperately need something to drink, and there’s nothing else (including plain water) available, and even then I still don’t like it. I’ll grant, though, that I don’t think I’ve ever tried sucralose or stevia, so it’s possible I’d like those.
Sugar. But if I’m drinking diet soft drinks, I like the mix of Ace K and aspartame best. At first, I liked Splenda, but now I dislike it more than straight-up Nutrasweet. Sucralose leaves a weird dull chemically taste on the back of my tongue. Aspartame has its own peculiar aftertaste, but it’s somehow sharper and drier, which I prefer to the sucralose “film” I taste on the back of my tongue.
Stevia just tastes odd to me. On its own, straight out of the packets, it’s not terribly objectionable. But once it’s mixed into liquid, the herbal nature of the sweetener intensifies and becomes quite distracting to me.
It sort of depends on what I’m using it for. For hot tea, honey. For baking/desserts, real sugar. For coffee, cold tea, breakfast cereal, etc., Equal.
I’m not a fan of the stevia or the Splenda or the liquid stuff–it all has a vaguely off taste during the food, and a truly vile chlorinated aftertaste. And forget trying to use any significant amount of it without that chlorinated taste completely dominating everything. Yech. “Tastes like sugar,” my big fat ass.
Yep, what you said. I drink diet if I go for soda, so I prefer that sweetener blend, but for making food at home, I use sugars (not including stevia and its ilk) as white sugar, brown sugar, or honey, typically.
Sugar. With the exception of diet soda, I can’t bear the taste of any artificial sweetener, and I’ve tried 'em all. Tastes like crap. So I just have smaller pieces of real sugar sweets that actually taste good instead of large pieces of stuff that tastes bad.
I use honey occasionally in drinks or baked goods, maple syrup for certain breakfasts, turbinado or demerara sugar for most other applications including coffee and black tea.
In general, my preferences run like so: Sugar/Honey>Splenda>Equal>Sweet/Low>Everything else I haven’t tried.
That said, I agree with others that there are certain exceptions with coffee and tea, where I use only Splenda. A packet of Splenda in a cup of coffee is a perfect amount for my tastes, and if I use sugar in it, my teeth feel furry the rest of the day.
Also with iced tea, Splenda just dissolves much better than sugar does.
