Truvia Sweetener Review and Giveaway

For a couple of years now I've been hearing about this new plant called stevia and how it's like the sugar of the 21st century. That's actually laughable, since stevia has been around for hundreds of years; it's an herb from South America whose leaves can be 30 times sweeter than sugar, and doesn't adversely affect blood glucose levels. But it's only recently that companies have been producing and mass-marketing them in the US as a sugar substitute, and now that I know about it, it certainly seems like a miracle sweetener for people watching their calories, glucose levels and carbs! I was recently given some samples of Truvia, a stevia-based sweetener, and I can tell you, Truvia tastes as sweet as it sounds. Keep reading to find out more (and enter to win some Truvia samples for yourself!)... The Basics Truvia is a natural, zero calorie sweetener made with rebiana, which is derived from the stevia leaf. It's used to sweeten some of my favorite low-cal products including Crystal Light, Coke, Sprite and Breyers YoCrunch, and now it's available in packet form and in bulk (so you can spoon it into your dishes/drinks or use it in baking). Here's how Truvia describes their product: Truvia™ (pronounced Tru-VEE-a) natural sweetener is a great-tasting, natural, zero-calorie sweetener made with rebiana, the best-tasting part of the stevia leaf. Truvia™ natural sweetener provides consumers with a new, natural sweetener choice to reduce the number of calories in their diets. Truvia™ natural sweetener sprinkles just like sugar, and is great in coffee and tea, or on your morning grapefruit or cereal. Not only can be it be used to sweeten coffee/tea and cereal/fruit, but you can also cook with it. Check out www.truvia.com for several great recipes, including tasty dishes from Celebrity Chefs Sam Talbot and Marisa Churchill! The Bongga Who needs sugar when you can get less calories and less carbs using Truvia? It's such an easy way to lower the sugar content in your favorite recipes! Check out Truvia's online recipe collection; they have tons of great low-sugar recipes for everything from breakfast to breads to desserts to appetizers. We tried their recipe for Classic Cheesecake and it was a huge success! Here's the recipe: Classic Cheesecake (from Truvia's online recipe collection) Crust 1 ½ cup graham cracker crumbs ¼ cup butter or margarine, melted ½ tsp vanilla 1 Tbsp + 1 1/2 tsp Truvia™ natural sweetener spoonable* * or 5 packets Truvia™ natural sweetener Filling: 1 lb (2 cups) cream cheese 8 oz (1 cup) Neufchatel cheese 4 whole eggs or egg substitute 1 Tbsp fresh lemon zest 4 Tbsp fresh lemon juice 1/8 tsp salt 1/3 Cup + 1 1/2 tsp Truvia™ natural sweetener spoonable* * or 20 packets Truvia™ natural sweetener Note: For best results use room temperature lemons, cream cheese and Neufchatel. Directions 1. Assemble all ingredients. 2. Place graham cracker crumbs and Truvia™ into mixing bowl; mix well. 3. Pour melted butter and vanilla over crumb mixture; blend until mixture is moist. 4. Press crumb mixture into 10" ungreased spring form pan, covering bottom and sides; refrigerate for 10 minutes. 5. Place Truvia™ natural sweetener, cream cheese, Neufchatel and salt into mixing bowl. 6. Blend at low speed for 1 minute; scrape sides of bowl and mixing paddle. 7. Mixing at low speed, add one egg at a time over 5 minutes. 8. Scrape sides of bowl and paddles. 9. Mix at medium speed for 2 minutes while adding lemon zest and juice; scrape bowl and mixing paddle. 10. Pour batter into graham cracker crust; bake at 325°F in oven for 55-60 minutes. 11. Remove from oven; cool on wire rack for 1 hour; cut into 12 pieces using a water dipped serrated knife and serve or refrigerate. The cheesecake was delicious! It was sweet enough on its own, but we served it with sliced strawberries on the side. We also swirled in some strawberry glaze for a strawberry flavor and a pretty finish. Everyone in the family loved it, and no-one realized it was made with a sugar substitute. The Blah Truvia is definitely sweet, but don't expect it to taste exactly like sugar. It has a faint maple-sugar taste, which I personally don't care for (I hate maple syrup and anything maple flavored!) but I doubt if anyone would really taste it unless you eat this by the spoonful. If you use it to sweeten your lemonade, coffee, tea, cereal, baked goods, etc... you won't notice it. The Bottom Line A natural, zero-calorie sweetener that doesn't raise blood glucose levels? Truvia is as close to a miracle sugar substitute you can get! Win a box of Truvia sweetener One lucky Bonggamom Finds reader will receive a box of Truvia! Required Entry Leave a comment on this post and tell me what you would use Truvia to sweeten instead of sugar. This entry must be completed before extra entries qualify. Extra Entries For extra entries, you can do any or all of the following. Please leave a separate comment for each extra entry with a way to verify the entry (i.e. tweet link, blog post link, Facebook id, Twitter id, etc.). 1) Subscribe to Bonggamom Finds updates (1 entry). 2) Follow Bonggamom Finds on Networked Blogs (1 entry). 3) Follow Bonggamom Finds on Blogger(1 entry). 4) Write this on the Bonggamom Finds Facebook page (1 entry): I entered the Truvia giveaway! http://ow.ly/4knWb 5) Write this on the Truvia Facebook page wall (1 entry): I entered the Truvia giveaway on Bonggamom Finds! http://ow.ly/4knWb 6) Follow Truvia on Twitter and tweet this, up to once per day (1 entry per day, leave a comment with the tweet link for each tweet): Win a box of @truvia sweetener from @bonggafinds http://ow.ly/4knWb #giveaways 7) Join any of the other open giveaways on Bonggamom Finds (1 entry for each giveaway joined). 8) Vote for Bonggamom Finds in the Circle of Moms Top 25 Product Review Parents The Rules This giveaway ends at 11:59PM PST on April 5, 2011; I will draw a winner at random on April 6 and post the winner's name after the winner confirms acceptance. Continental US residents only. For additional giveaway rules, click here. Good luck!

Disclosure: I received a product sample to facilitate my review, but have not been paid to review the product or give my opinions. Product information is provided by the featured company/product and is indicated in italics. The views and opinions expressed here are my own.