Sweetener Smackdown Part 3

I'm down to the final contender in my Sweetener Smackdown! If anyone has any other suggestions regarding a natural/artificial (i.e., NOT sugar, and lower calorie), I would love to put up my dukes for another round. But in the meantime, I have been sampling this little lovely:

The verdict: It was love at first slurp! In fact, this stuff is so sweet, that I really only need a half a packet in my tea or whatever else it is I'm adding to. I really dig that this only has two ingredients: Stevia and Cane Sugar. I think it's really helpful that there is a mix of the two, so the tongue and body doesn't get such mixed signals. The crystals in this are HUGE, but dissolve easily in everything I've mixed them into. (Sorry gross finger pic)

There is only the very very slightest hint of the licorice-y aftertaste that some people find so unappealing about Stevia, so I definitely recommend it.

The downside? First of all, this sweet stuff is expensive. It definitely helps that I only need to use half a packet per, but only 50 come in a box, priced at about $3.00. Yikes! My ex-lovah Natra Taste was only $1.77 for twice that many.

Besides that cheap-ass factor, I had been avoiding stevia because it had been the only sweetener not green-lighted by the FDA, and particularly cautioned against use by pregnant women. Surprise babe! KIDDING,KIDDING. Jeeze. But in all seriousness, babies are not that far in the future for hubz and I, and I get really nervous about that type of thing--it's one of the main reasons I decided to put the kibosh on artificial sweeteners to begin with. I know that stevia has now been approved, but still no conclusive evidence on safety of use during pregnancy. Any thoughts on this guys?

At any rate, this stuff is good, and most likely the all-categories winner in my Smackdown (unless I find any other products to test-drive!). Look for an inclusive comparison next week, when Sweetener Smackdown returns for it's final episode. (To be continued....????)