Stevia is a sweetener and sugar substitute extracted from the leaves of the plant species Stevia rebaudiana.
The active compounds of stevia are steviol glycosides (mainly stevioside and rebaudioside), which have up to 150 times the sweetness of sugar, are heat-stable, pH-stable, and not fermentable. Stevia's taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar, and some of its extracts may have a bitter or licorice-like aftertaste at high concentrations.
The legal status of stevia as a food additive or dietary supplement varies from country to country. In the United States, high-purity stevia glycoside extracts are generally recognized as safe (GRAS) and allowed as ingredients in food products. The European Union approved stevia additives in 2011, and in Japan, stevia has been widely used as a sweetener for decades
Peru balsam is a tall tree that grows in central America. This large tree often is cultivated as a shade tree. Crude Peru balsam is a dark brown, thick liquid with an aromatic smell of cinnamon and vanilla, and bitter taste. To remove it from the tree, the bark is alternately scorched and beaten. The balsam in the bark is obtained by boiling. Following removal of strips of bark from the tree, the exposed wood also secretes balsam. The material is soaked up by rags wrapped around the tree, which then are boiled in water. The balsam sinks to the bottom and is collected yielding approximately 0.91 kg per tree annually.
