Finding the sweet spot: Formulating with stevia
So what about those 80,000 hours of applications development?
A sizeable chunk of them have been expended by principal food scientist Wade Schmelzer, who says there are many more stages of stevia technology to come as research “unlocks the secrets of all the minor steviol glycosides” to “literally find the sweet spot” for formulators.
So what’s the Holy Grail when it comes to formulating with stevia? Probably the perfect zero-calorie cola, he says.
“Cola is very complex, because there are so many different elements to the cola flavor - vanilla, spice, citrus - it’s a very challenging matrix, and every cola is different.”