Recently with increasing health awareness, there is a concern regarding excess use of sugar and related health effects. The artificial sweeteners that gained popularity over the last 4 decades have fallen out of favour due to the new findings regarding harmful effects on health including weight gain, increased insulin resistance, increasing cancer incidence etc. This has led to the development of a need to have a natural, safe sweetener that can offer sugar-like sweetness at significantly lesser calories than those in ordinary sugar Stevia extract has gained popularity for its natural origin and high intensity sweetness, however a liquorice, and bitter aftertaste and the inability to substitute sugar without being used with some fillers had been its drawbacks. Stellar Stevia sugr is a reduced calorie, low giycemic load sweetening composition having stevia extract and a ordinary sugar, or sugar alcohols wherein the stevia has a rebaudioside A level from about 60 wt% to about 99 wt% relative to all steviol glycosides. The sweetener composition is closest to ordinary sugar in look, feel as well as other properties when used in cooking / recipes, however has a much higher intensity of sweetness and therefore significantly lesser calories per serving. The sweetener composition can be formulated as non-free flowing solids, powders, granules, or as liquids.
