stevia

IPA: stˈiviʌ

Any of the sweet herbs of genus Stevia, native to tropical and subtropical regions of South America and western North America.
A sweetener, many times sweeter than an equal amount of sugar, extracted from Stevia rebaudiana, that can be substituted for sugar for some purposes.

Examples of "stevia" in Sentences

The sweetener called stevia, which is increasingly being used, comes from a shrub found in Paraguay, South America.
Using egg whites and the natural sugar alternative known as stevia, I was able to bake up cakes with the proper taste.
And the leaves of a South American plant commonly known as stevia, Stevia rebaudiana, have been used for centuries in its homeland to sweeten maté tea.
In consumer communications, all sweet extracts should be referred to as stevia, rather than the numerous scientific names (such as rebaudioside, reb A, steviol glycosides).
"I had no idea what it was," Fukushima — who at the time was chef de cuisine at Jose Andres' cutting edge minibar restaurant — said of finding what turned out to be the herb known as stevia.
"It's hard to know whether stevia is safe or not, as research is minimal," says Marion Nestle, a professor of nutrition at New York University, who argues that it may be a stretch to call stevia products "natural".
Last year, technological improvements to an all-natural zero-calorie sweetener derived from a plant called stevia allowed Pepsi to devise several fast-growing brands, including Trop50, a variation on its Tropicana orange juice that has half the calories of the breakfast standby.