Processed
Stevioside Rich
B tier
Stevioside-rich extract is the older, cheaper leaf fraction: very sweet, more bitter and liquorice than reb A, still common in some Asian tabletop products and in crude "green" extracts. It taught a generation that stevia tastes of medicine. Used with care in a strongly flavoured tea it can work; in a still clear water it is unkind. It is not the extract to write into a premium yoghurt. If a specification says only "stevia extract" and the price is low, you may be buying this. Blending with reb A or another sweetener is how plants used to hide it.
Track this ingredient
Characteristics
Preparations
Traits
History
Early Japanese stevia sweeteners were stevioside-rich and notably bitter.
South American and Asian tabletop stevias stayed stevioside-heavy as reb A was still dear.
Western approvals focused on reb A, leaving stevioside as the economy fraction.
Crude stevioside extracts persisted in cheap packets and some herbal blends.