Sugar substitute in iced tea?

[lmbjer]

Any suggestions on what I could use to sweeten my iced tea aside from white sugar? This is my last "crutch" in the sugar world. I drink iced tea like most people drink coffee and I really would love to find a healthier option.

[cristeen]

Learn to drink it unsweetened. Just slowly decrease the amount you put in it - it can easily take a month or more, but it can be done (I weaned my DH off sweetened tea this way).

Alternatively, I'd probably look for a stevia that I could tolerate.

[425lisamarie]

The sweetleaf stevia drops are really good. The apricot nectar one is fabulous in iced tea, and the lemon drop. If you use too much you get the weird aftertaste, but just a few drops is great.

[WorldsBestMom]

Well you could try honey. Honey is also a good sweetener.

[Tarielena]

I would go for Stevia as well. I use the Stevita brand powder in my hot tea, and it is great. I don't even think I would like tea sweetened with sugar any more, and that says a lot considering what a sweet tooth I have!

[hippiewitchie]

Apple juice makes a great sweetener for iced tea.
Especially herbal teas. YUM!!!

[Jaesun's Dad]

I drink my tea unsweetened, and I'm a (mostly hot) tea addict but my partner likes to use Xylitol in her coffee. When she was borderline for gestational diabetes and I was cooking diabetic friendly we used it for a number of things. It tastes just like sugar but it doesn't get digested you just pass it right on out the other side ... which supposedly can cause a bit of a laxative effect but we didn't have too much trouble with moderate amounts. I even made cranberry sauce with it for thanksgiving. The "sugar cookies" may have been a bit over the top though ... a little bit of a laxative effect there but still not "make a run to the border" ... but a few teaspoons in tea I think you'd never have such effect at all. The stuff we have we got at whole foods and claims to be pure extract from (Pennsylvania) birch ...

There's always this disputable claim:

Benefits for pregnant or nursing women

Xylitol is not only safe for pregnant and nursing women, but studies show that regular use significantly reduces the probability of transmitting the Streptococcus mutans bacteria, which is responsible for tooth decay, from mother to child during the first two years of life by as much as 80%.

Of course if you're paying attention you know how much I like "studies" ... ;-) abstract

[chattyprincess]

Ahhh..yes ice tea...my addiction. I drink milk water and ice tea! lol. I have weaned down to an insignificant amount (in a gallon and a half jug about 1/2 cup) of organic cane sugar. I am hoping by this summer to break even that habit. Really you cannot taste the sugar in there so its pointless...but yah know. What about succant?

[Drummer's Wife]

I can't stand sweetened ice-tea (but my coffee has to have cream and sugar), but the idea of decreasing the amount until you are used to it with none is a good one. Or using raw honey.

[lmbjer]

These are some good suggestions, thank you.

I had weaned myself to 1/4 a cup for a gallon container, but honestly - it just stunk.

As for honey, stevia, etc. do you mix by the glass or by the gallon?

[nerdymom]

I would mix stevia drops by the gallon b/c they're concentrated (this is what I've heard, I've never used it). Honey I would add by the glass. I love a couple drops of honey in my tea.

[Tarielena]

For stevia I don't think it matters which way you mix it... if you are making big jugs of tea you might as well do it by the jug so you can just pour and drink. But it works fine by the cup as well, once you know how much you like. I have a tiny little wooden measuring spoon that's probably like 1/16 teaspoon and I use one of those per cup of hot tea.

[Encinalien]

I moved to an area of the country where the restaraunts mostly only serve unsweet tea. To make it palatable you brew it weaker than you would for sweet tea.

[~Adorkable~]

i use Organic Erythritol

i really dislike the way stevia tastes and have read some unintended issues with the plant. i personally have found that Erythritol is the only sugar alcohol that i feel actually takes like sugar without an aftertaste. it is granule so works like sugar in every way except browning. but like Jaesun's Dad explains it most sugar alcohols pass thru your system and are not processed,
"erythritol is actually absorbed in the small intestine and excreted unchanged through urine, so it has no side effects at typical levels of consumption." -wikipedia

here is the main page for sugar alcohols and a nice chart that shows sweetness and calories, you can see that there is clearly some different in them.

Sugar alcohol
i picked Erythritol at first because i found an organic source and discovered that i liked the take better than any of the the others (Xylitol is my next favorite) i stuck with it since i have learned it is one of the few with little to none of the bloating and other side effects and that my brand comes from sugar cane rather than corn as Xylitol usually does in this country. neither are great plants for our world but corn politics and farming in the US is just disturbing to me.

and as a lady with insulin resistance, i have been really happy that i found a good thing that was so easy for me to switch too.

[lilyka]

Sweet leaf Stavie plus in the green packets. Nustavia is also ok. Both excellent in iced tea.

[4myfinn]

Have you tried agave nectar?

[lmbjer]

I never thought about brewing it weaker. I might give that a try.

As for agave nectar and honey - would those dissolve properly in a cold drink? I haven't tried either, but I would be willing to.

What does agave nectar taste like?

As for the sugar alcohol's, I would try them, but I'm thinking they are not sold around here...maybe online though. The nearest health food store is 1/2 hour away and has three aisles. The nearest Whole Foods is over an hour away. I'm dealing with Wal-Mart here.

[425lisamarie]

Originally Posted by •Adorkable•

i use Organic Erythritol

i really dislike the way stevia tastes and have read some unintended issues with the plant. i personally have found that Erythritol is the only sugar alcohol that i feel actually takes like sugar without an aftertaste. it is granule so works like sugar in every way except browning. but like Jaesun's Dad explains it most sugar alcohols pass thru your system and are not processed,
"erythritol is actually absorbed in the small intestine and excreted unchanged through urine, so it has no side effects at typical levels of consumption." -wikipedia

here is the main page for sugar alcohols and a nice chart that shows sweetness and calories, you can see that there is clearly some different in them.

Sugar alcohol
i picked Erythritol at first because i found an organic source and discovered that i liked the take better than any of the the others (Xylitol is my next favorite) i stuck with it since i have learned it is one of the few with little to none of the bloating and other side effects and that my brand comes from sugar cane rather than corn as Xylitol usually does in this country. neither are great plants for our world but corn politics and farming in the US is just disturbing to me.

and as a lady with insulin resistance, i have been really happy that i found a good thing that was so easy for me to switch too.

Hey thanks for reminding me about erythritol! What I used to do is do both this and stevia. I used to make a good chocolate syrup for my coffee with some erythritol, good cocoa powder and a coupel drops of stevia. I don't like alot of stevia, i think it gets a weird taste, but erythritol is spendy too, I find i can use a little less and a drop or two of stevia wihtout aftertaste issues

[lakeruby]

I like the idea of using honey and gradually lessening the amount you use until you can drink it unsweetened. It's really just an aquired taste! I have been working on this in my hot tea and am down to a quarter teaspoon of honey. I use a raw, unfiltered honey.

[sunny*pa*mom]

Originally Posted by hablame_today

I moved to an area of the country where the restaraunts mostly only serve unsweet tea. To make it palatable you brew it weaker than you would for sweet tea.

That's a good idea!

We weaned off of sweet tea by changing up the tea mixture. Now we use 4 teabags of green, 4 black and 2 lemon for a pitcher. Sometimes we mix it up with mint or apple cinnamon or another flavor. Adds taste without the sugar.