Swerve Sweetener
This past weekend, I attended the Phoenix Gluten Free & Allergy Friendly Expo, so expect some reviews to come through the week of new and new-to-me products I had the chance to try.
One of those products is Swerve, a new non-caloric sweetener. They advertise as being a measure-for-measure replacement for sugar in baking, and it comes in both granulated and confectioner styles. I checked out the ingredients at the booth, and noticed that it’s a sugar-alcohol-based sweetener, erythritol to be precise. The booth rep reassured me that this blend was made so as to not cause the, ah, gastric distress other sugar alcohols can cause. The only samples she had were little packets similar to what you get in restaurants to sweeten your coffee, so I accepted two and put them on my sugar bowl when I got home.
I have a long history with sugar substitutes. I grew up in the aerobics-obsessed ‘80′s. Little pink packets of Sweet’n’Low were ubiquitous in my household. By the ‘90′s, saccharin had been demonized enough that little blue packets of Equal replaced them, and then in the ‘00′s, the little yellow packets of Splenda. Nowadays, we also have the little green packets of stevia, or little orange packets of monkfruit.
This morning, I decided to try the Swerve. I usually use 2 to 3 teaspoons of sugar in my coffee, so instead, I used the 2 packets of Swerve. I took a sip of my coffee...and immediately winced. I did try, but I ended up adding another teaspoon of sugar.
It did help, in that I only used one teaspoon of sugar instead of three, but Swerve has the same problem most non-sugar sweeteners have: AFTERTASTE. I took a sip of water after a few sips of coffee, and my senses were assaulted by this cloying, artificial sweetness. A lot of “diet” drinks do that to me, especially ones with Splenda. Sugar (refined white sugar) has a much cleaner finish, with no lingering aftertaste. Even as I write this, an hour after I finished my coffee, I can still taste the sickly-sweet finish when I drink my water.
The small sample I received was not enough to test in any other capacity (such as baking), but from the effect in coffee, I’m not exactly willing to pay for a bag (a 12 ounce bag goes for $10 on Amazon).
Final thoughts: 1 out of 5
(PS: I am not diabetic, so I did not test my blood sugar reactions to the sweetener. Their website claims it does not cause blood glucose to spike, but every diabetic is different)














