The Good: Not unhealthy, Does not taste bad, Substitutes for sugar in baked goods well
The Bad: Expensive, Does not quite taste like sugar
The Basics: Truvia is a good sugar substitute for those looking to replace sugar in baked products, but is a tougher sell on its own, especially for the expense.
As someone who is looking to eat and drink healthier of late, I was pretty excited when I found Sin-Free Sugar (reviewed here!) recently. As good as Sin-Free Sugar is, though, it is way too expensive for me to use as a reasonable sugar substitute when it comes to baking. Using other sugar substitutes yielded baked goods that were either too expensive to plausibly make/replace in my diet with the lower-calorie option or had a taste that was fundamentally altered by the sugar substitute. Some sugar substitutes even change the way the product bakes up, making it way too much hassle. I was about to give up on using sugar substitutes in my baked goods until I encountered Truvia.
Truvia is a sugar substitute that is designed for people who have dietary needs that force them to take in less carbs and few calories. Truvia is one of the rare sweeteners designed to replace sugars in baking and that is where it truly shines.
Basics
Truvia is a white granule that replaces sugar. We picked it up in the 9.8 oz. resealable plastic canister. The plastic jar was more expensive than a five pound bag of sugar, but was still a little less expensive than some comparable sugar substitutes. After opening the jar, one has easy access to the Truvia. The seasoning is basically a sweetener that is opaque white and hard, like tiny crystals of sugar that have been broken up with a mortar and pestle. The sweetener is white, as opposed to clear or translucent .
Ease Of Preparation
Truvia is exceptionally easy to use. Simply open the jar and scoop the granules onto the item one wants sweetened. With the bulk packs, it becomes very easy to use as a sugar replacement. There is no trick to sweetening with Truvia.
Taste
Smelling the Truvia, Truvia has a very slight scent to it. The aroma of the sweetener on its own is a very, very mild smell that I am unable to describe in any way other than “chemically.” There is a specific chemical it smells like, but I cannot put my finger on it, but the smell is so very mild that it does not diminish the product because one truly has to inhale super deeply before they can find the scent.
On the tongue, Truvia is sweet . . . ridiculously sweet. The flavor is much like someone took sugar and made a super-concentrated crystal powder of it; it is that sweet. However, this sweetener also has a very faint coldness to the way it tastes and in that way, it is instantly reminiscent of such artificial sweeteners as Equal or Sweet And Low. This product, however, has a similar chemically aftertaste that dissipates far, far quicker. Within ten seconds after it is last consumed, the overly sweet, minisculely bitter aftertaste is gone.
As a control, I added Truvia to my cup of Maxwell House Dark Roast Coffee (reviewed here!) in order to test how it sweetened. The Truvia effectively cut the bitterness of the black coffee and sweetened the coffee exactly as an artificial sweetener would. In addition to cutting the coffee’s bitterness, it infused the flavor of the coffee with its sugary-sweetness and (for lack of a better term) a hint of dryness distinctive to artificial sweeteners.
Using Truvia in baking products, namely chocolate chip cookies, yielded good results though. The cookies tasted sweeter than normal (granulated sugar-based) chocolate chip cookies, but baking with the Truvia worked perfectly without the need to otherwise alter the recipe. In other words, Truvia is a sufficient replacement for sugar when cooking, which cannot be said of many sugar substitutes!
Nutrition
Truvia is predictably impressive on the nutrition front. In a 1 gram serving, there are no calories. There are 3 grams of carbs and no fat in the serving! There are no other nutrients in Truvia, save three grams of Erythritol (which is a sugar alcohol).
On the ingredients front, Truvia is good and simple! Truvia consists entirely of Erythritol, Stevia leaf extract and natural flavors. There is actually nothing unpronounceable in this sweetener. It is suitable for people with diabetes.
Storage/Clean-up
I could find no expiration date on my container of Truvia, but it seems reasonable that it would not expire so long as it is kept dry.
If the Truvia gets on clothing, it shouldn’t stain, mostly because it is a solid. It easily wipes off any surface it gets on.
Overview
Truvia is expensive (more so than plain sugar) and I was not sold on it as an additive to other foods, but it impressed me with how it reacted as an ingredient. For those looking to bake for health-conscious, weight-conscious or diabetic individuals, Truvia finds its worth. But for those looking for a day to day sugar replacement, Truvia is not quite the sweetener that lives up to its price.
For other garnish or spread reviews, be sure to check out my reviews of:
PB Crave Coco Bananas Peanut Butter
Domino Light Organic Agave Nectar
Stevia In The Raw
6.5/10
For other food reviews, be sure to check out my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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