where does stevia in the raw come from
South America the plant species Stevia rebaudiana
title: Stevia text: Stevia Stevia () is a sweetener and sugar substitute extracted from the leaves of the plant species "Stevia rebaudiana", native to Brazil and Paraguay. The active compounds are steviol glycosides (mainly stevioside and rebaudioside), which have 30 to 150 times the sweetness of sugar, are heat-stable, pH-stable, and not fermentable. The body does not metabolize the glycosides in stevia and therefore it contains 0 calories like some artificial sweeteners. 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 title: Stevia text: Stevia Stevia () is a sweetener and sugar substitute extracted from the leaves of the plant species "Stevia rebaudiana", native to Brazil and Paraguay. The active compounds are steviol glycosides (mainly stevioside and rebaudioside), which have 30 to 150 times the sweetness of sugar, are heat-stable, pH-stable, and not fermentable. The body does not metabolize the glycosides in stevia and therefore it contains 0 calories like some artificial sweeteners. 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 title: Stevia text: stevia plants are dried and subjected to a water extraction process. This crude extract contains about 50% rebaudioside A. The various glycosides are separated and purified via crystallization techniques, typically using ethanol or methanol as solvent. Stevia extracts and derivatives are produced industrially and marketed under different trade names. Glycosides are molecules that contain glucose residues bound to other non-sugar substances called aglycones (molecules with other sugars are polysaccharides). Preliminary experiments deduce that the tongue's taste receptors react to the glycosides and transduce the sweet taste sensation and the lingering bitter aftertaste by direct activation of sweet and bitter receptors. title: Stevia text: 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) since 2008 and allowed as ingredients in food products, but stevia leaf and crude extracts do not have GRAS or Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for use in food. The European Union approved stevia additives in 2011, while the people of Japan have widely used stevia as a sweetener for decades. The plant "Stevia rebaudiana" has been used for more than 1,500 years by the Guaraní peoples of South America, who title: PureVia text: PureVia PureVia is a stevia-based low calorie sugar substitute developed jointly by Pepsico and Whole Earth Sweetener Company which is a wholly owned subsidiary of artificial sweetener manufacturing company Merisant. It is currently distributed and marketed by Whole Earth Sweetener Company as a tabletop sweetener and as a food ingredient. PureVia competes against Coca-Cola and Cargill's jointly developed Truvia brand of stevia-extract sweetener and Cumberland Packing Corporation's 'Stevia in the Raw' stevia-extract sweetener. PureVia is a blend of several different ingredients. It contains dextrose, cellulose powder, natural flavors as well as the stevia extract rebaudioside A. The Food and Drug