Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

Let me start my review by saying that I have been using stevia for about twenty years now and have used lots of different brands, so I may not be the best person to say whether or not someone who never used stevia before would like this. That being said, this is certainly the best stevia I've ever used. Up until now my favorite has been Trader Joe's for their pure powder, and SweetLeaf for liquid drops. There are lots of brands I've tried (Like Whole Foods 365) that just taste artificial, have that pronounced licorice flavor, or are downright bitter. Being happy with my usual brands, the only reason I ordered this was because I'm a member of Amazon Prime and I didn't want to have to make a trip. What a surprise! This is BY FAR the best. It has a fantastic flavor, and it's the only stevia I've ever been able to use where people who aren't used to stevia can't tell I used it. This is fantastic in everything from lemonade to desserts. One note of caution: this is extremely sweet. I have to use about 2/3 of what I typically used from the Trader Joe's pure extract. That being said, even if I accidentally put a little too much, it never, ever gets that bitterness or artificial flavor. It's just incredibly sweet. Somehow this is just purely sweet without any real flavor of its own. I don't understand how it works. It's amazing! It was so remarkably different from other stevia powders that I started playing with it in the kitchen. For example, I found that a little bit added to melted dark chocolate makes it intensely sweet but still dark, and when added to hot tea with just a tiny amount of honey, it tastes like I used way more honey than I did. A minuscule amount added to cut strawberries made them taste like fruit from heaven, enhancing their own natural sweetness. I had to cook for 35 people for an event and made a honey-sweetened lavender lemonade, and I was able to sweeten five gallons with just half a cup of honey and a little bit of stevia powder, which saved me a fortune in honey (since I buy local), and everyone loved it. On another note, whenever I talk to people about stevia I like to take a minute to differentiate between stevioside-based extracts and the more commercial extracts based on rebaudioside (Reb-A, Pure Via, etc.). There is a mountain of research that has been done on the safety - and actual health benefits - of stevioside, which is what Nature's Candy uses. Reb-A, on the other hand, was made as a patent-worthy product by huge corporations trying to exploit the natural foods movement, and is often cut with other flavorings or sweeteners. Some research seems to indicate that it may not be as safe as stevioside-based sweeteners. That's another thing that makes this brand so great. When I first tasted it I double-checked the package to make sure it was the right kind, and it is. This is the pure, natural stevioside extract that has been shown in multiple Japanese studies to help with metabolic disorders, and which has been proven safe time and time again. I don't think the product itself needs any help, I can think of a couple of improvement: - I would really love it if it came in a shaker - It would be a dream if I could find the same quality and taste in a liquid version! - That dream would be even better if there were flavored liquid versions (I love to make my own sodas with sparkling water and flavored stevia, and the liquid versions don't foam as much) In any event, these are just suggestions for making a phenomenal product even more versatile. I rarely write reviews for products unless they are just great or are truly bad, and this is one of those cases where something was so good I just had to review it.