# What is your favorite sweetener?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [July 6, 2010, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665 "2010-07-06T03:08:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/1 "2010-07-06T03:08:52Z")
There is a [thread over in IMHO](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=569730) 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.
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### Author:  [@Max\_the\_Immortal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_the_Immortal)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 3:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/2 "2010-07-06T03:20:09Z")
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 wasn’t impressed by stevia.
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### Author:  [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/3 "2010-07-06T03:33:18Z")
I use Splenda for everything that needs sweetening. I still have some sugar (left over from my mother), but I never use it.
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### Author:  [@Antinor01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antinor01)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/4 "2010-07-06T04:30:50Z")
Splenda. If there is no splenda then I’ll use real sugar. I can’t stand Equal or Nutrisweet.
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### Author:  [@Not\_a\_Platypus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Not_a_Platypus)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/5 "2010-07-06T04:40:03Z")
Sugar. We don’t eat or make a lot of sweet foods, so plain ol’ sugar in moderation isn’t a big deal.
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### Author:  [@gaffa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gaffa)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 5:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/6 "2010-07-06T05:01:49Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Tim\_R.Mortiss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_R.Mortiss)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/7 "2010-07-06T05:05:45Z")
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
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/8 "2010-07-06T16:27:14Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/9 "2010-07-06T16:45:49Z")
I’ve always liked the way the pink packet stuff dissolves in iced tea, and that is the only time I use a sugar substitute.
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### Author:  [@AncientHumanoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AncientHumanoid)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/10 "2010-07-06T17:50:06Z")
Sugar.
Or Splenda.
Or sugar and Splenda.
Or lightning bug tail juice.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/11 "2010-07-06T18:11:43Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@CrazyCatLady](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CrazyCatLady)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 6:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/12 "2010-07-06T18:16:00Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/13 "2010-07-06T18:22:24Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Sugar. But if I’m drinking diet soft drinks, I like the mix of Ace K and aspartame best.
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.
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### Author:  [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 6:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/14 "2010-07-06T18:31:36Z")
I use the Splenda or it’s generic equivalent, whichever is on sale. I’d use sugar, but I’m diabetic, so fake is probably best.
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### Author:  [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/15 "2010-07-06T18:38:51Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/16 "2010-07-06T18:58:27Z")
I mix Splenda and Sweet-N-Low for coffee, Splenda alone for non-sugar baking.
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### Author:  [@Lanzy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lanzy)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/17 "2010-07-06T18:59:41Z")
I heard so many good things about stevia that I tried it, anyone want some free stevia?
Splenda all the way, I’ll drink black coffee before equal.
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### Author:  [@Peremensoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peremensoe)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/18 "2010-07-06T19:05:38Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@I\_Am\_The\_Lorax](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Am_The_Lorax)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/19 "2010-07-06T19:06:09Z")
Sweet’n’Low, but only for coffee and tea. If I’m baking, which is rare, I’m going to use real sugar and real butter.
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### Author:  [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)
#### Post date: [July 6, 2010, 8:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-sweetener/545665/20 "2010-07-06T20:06:31Z")
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.
For hot tea, I only use honey.
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