Stevia is a fairly unassuming perennial shrub of the composite family (Asteraceæ), native to the northern regions of South America. It has now been grown commercially in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Central America, the U.S., Israel, Thailand and China. The leaves contain several chemicals, called glycosides, which taste sweet but do not provide calories. The major glycoside is called stevioside, and is one of the major sweeteners in use in Japan and Korea. Europeans first learned of stevia when the spanish conquistadors of the 16th century sent word to Spain that the natives of South America had used the plant to sweeten herbal tea since “ancient times.”
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