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Stevia rebaudiana Bertoni is a perennial plant native to Paraguay whose leaves have been known for a long time for their intense sweetness. The plant showed highly adaptability from the pedo-climatic point of view and to confirming this, today it is grown successfully in many countries aside from the place of origin, for both temperature and solar exposure. As regards the leaves biomass production (the leaves of stevia are the marketable part of the plant), the most suitable territories are those located at high latitudes. Depending on the chemical composition of the plant and in particular of its leaves, the molecules that impart sweetness are defined "steviol glycosides": among them, the preeminent ones are stevioside and rebaudioside A whose sweetening powers are 300 times higher than those of sucrose or cane sugar. The importance that holding these compounds, in addition to their sweetening power, is also linked to their special properties: they are non-caloric and play an important role in combating certain diseases, nowadays spread in the world, like hyperglycemia and hypertension. In Europe, despite the Stevia was already known since the late 800's, the go-ahead to commercialization of steviol glycosides have been granted only starting from 2010. Stevia extracts were marketed in the form of food additives and placed in specific food categories such as "reduced energy value" or "no added sugar" or also they can be used in specific products or as table sweetener. In this work it is a new solid-liquid extraction process is presented that allows the cold extraction of steviol glycosides from Stevia leaves realized by the use of the Naviglio extractor and the subsequent purification which allows to obtain the mixtures of steviol glycosides which may be employed in the food industry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on Stevia rebaudiana as they are used as natural sweeteners in foods. It informs about Stevia rebaudiana that are used frequently as sweetener in foods and beverages in context with their non calorific property. It includes information on U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as it lets Cargill Inc. and Whole Earth Sweetener Co. LLC use rebaudioside A as general purpose sweetener. INSETS: Stevia Organizations & Conferences;How Food Chemicals Codex Monographs Are Approved.

The article focuses on the emergence of rebaudioside A, extracted from the Stevia rebaudiana. It notes that rebaudioside A is made available as a food additive, particularly as a sweetener used as a substitute for sugar. It mentions that Stevia lead and extracts are also available as dietary supplements.

The article discusses the effect of sweetness inhibitors to the taste of foods. Flavor chemist Jack Fastag says that sweetness inhibitors directly act on the sweetness receptors of the tongue. It mentions that R. S. J. Keast study on the effect of zinc salts in inhibiting the sweetness revealed that zinc sulfate (ZnSO4) blocked the sweetness of glucose. Moreover, rebaudioside A, a sweetener derived from Stevia rebaudiana schrub has high concentrations but has a bitter aftertaste.