"STEVIA"
What’s Special about our Stevia?
Our extracting technology uses an all-natural process to eliminate the bitter aftertaste commonly associated with Stevia without sacrificing the Stevioside.

A BRIEF HISTORY:
It was Antonio Bertoni who first discovered Stevia in 1887. Originally considered a part of the daisy family, it was re-assigned to the chrysanthemum (Asteraceae) family in the Eupatorieae Tribe in 1905. Bertoni learned of the herb and its curious sweetening properties form the Guarani Paraguayan Indians, Mestizos and others who had used it to sweeten bitter beverages, particularly mate.í Stevia was known locally as Caaí-ehe or Kaaíhe-E which can be translated as "sweet-herb" or "honeyleaf.." By the turn of the century, it was well known and widely used by herbalists in Paraguay as a sweetener in teas.

By 1901, a man named C. Gosling, who was the British Consul at Asuncion, was able to write: This plant, which has been known to the Indians (Guarani) for a hundred years or more and whose secret has as usual been so faithfully guarded by them, grows in the Highlands of Amambai and near the source of the River Monday... The leaves are small and the flower still more diminutive, and the Indians call it Caaí-ehe, meaning sweet herb, because of its sweetness, a few leaves being sufficient to sweeten a strong cup of tea, giving also a pleasant aromatic flavor.

In an article written for the June 1909 edition of Chemist and Druggist, Karl Dieterich wrote that the sweet plant of Paraguay, also known as honey yerba, is used in an area where it is found to sweeten mateí.

Two French chemists named Bridel and Lavieille began to unravel the secret of Stevia in 1931 with exploratory extraction work on Stevia leaves. Their research yielded a pure white crystalline compound, which they named "Stevioside" which was recovered at a six percent yield. They found this substance to be 300 times sweeter than table sugar and without apparent toxic effects in various experimental animals.

In 1941, because of the scarcity of sugar and other sweeteners in England due to the German submarine blockade, a substitute sweetener was sought out which could be cultivated in the British Isles. The Director of the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew commissioned an R. Melville to research Stevia as a likely possibility.
Melvilleís report shows that he believed Stevia could be just the substitute for which they were looking.
Melville reported:
that the native of Paraguay for sweetening their mateí and as a general sweetening agent has long used the leaves of Stevia. Their use has been suggested for sweetening beer, tobacco and instead of sugar in drinks for hot climates. Later, the possibility of employing the leaves or the extracted sweet principals was considered for sweetening foods...Two or Three leaves are enough to sweeten a cup of tea or coffee.

The largest user remains Japan, which began cultivating Stevia plants in hothouses in 1954. When the Japanese government banned certain artificial sweeteners due to health concerns in the late sixties, the use of Stevia as a natural alternative increased dramatically. Steviaís usage has also increased due to the health concerns of Japanese consumers toward sucrose, related to dental caries, obesity and diabetes.

Stevioside has also been approved as a food additive in South Korea and is widely available in China, Taiwan and Malaysia. In China, teas are made from the Stevia leaves, which are recommended, for increasing the appetite, as a digestant for losing weight, for keeping young and as a sweet tasting low-caloric tea."

In Paraguay and Brazil, Stevia is widely touted as a remedy for diabetes, although there has not been a scientific study to adequately support this claim. Stevia does not contribute to diabetes, high blood pressure, Candida, hypoglycemia, or tooth decay.