Stevia deserves more attention in the U.S. It is an herb native to Paraguay and is the sweetest known natural substance. It is 100-200 times sweeter than refined cane sugar, so it is used in very small amounts. Because it is used in such small amounts, stevia is virtually non-caloric. It also has a glycemic index of 0.

It has been used as a sweetener for hundreds of years by South Americans, and in 1941, it was used by the British when sugar supplies were scarce. It’s safe, and is approved for use as a sweetener by 14 countries worldwide. In Japan, stevia makes up 50% of the market for sugar alternatives. Furthermore, recent tests in Canada (I can’t find a link for this, but it was reported in Technology Review 1995, volume 98) suggest that stevia would thrive in North America, and that it is particularly well-suited to tobacco growing regions — this means that stevia could someday be an alternative crop to tobacco.

However, it’s not approved for use as a sweetener in the U.S. In the United States, stevia has alternately been treated as an innocuous herb, a health food supplement, and a controlled substance. Currently, the FDA allows it to be marketed as a nutritional supplement, but manufacturers cannot claim that it is a sweetener.

If you are looking for an alternative to sugar, consider stevia — I’m sold on it. I prefer it to the chemically derived or genetically altered alternatives, some of which have serious side-effects. I haven’t tried cooking with it yet, though I plan to. I’ve used it mainly to sweeten drinks like tea or coffee, and to take the bite out of plain yogurt.