Introduction

The popularity of the plant Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) has risen due to increasing use and interest in its sweet constituents called steviol glycosides. In recent years, these have been approved all over the world as food additives in the category of sweetener, hence they have received more attention and their use in food formulations has increased significantly. New techniques in growing stevia have resulted in new varieties with interesting steviol glycoside profiles. Also, new techniques to analyse the content of sweeteners in different matrices and the detection of new steviol glycosides with very pleasant sensory profiles has followed. The aim of this book is to present novel uses and manufacturing developments as well as to gather together up-to-date information across the whole developing area of steviol glycosides research.