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I made chocolate pudding from scratch and substituted 1 cup of Stevia for the cup of sugar and the pudding is bitter tasting. Any way I can salvage the pudding and make it sweeter?

The recipe was as follows:

1 cup white sugar, or to taste
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
3 cups unsweetened almond milk
1 teaspoon butter (optional)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

I just used Walmart brand Stevia.

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    Can you include the rest of the recipe for the pudding? Is the stevia sweetener mixed with other ingredients (like Stevia in the Raw, mixed w/ maltodextrin, or others mixed w/ erythritol), or is it pure stevia extract powder? – NSGod Oct 26 '19 at 20:35
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    Is this the first time you are eating stevia? It has bitter components which some people can taste and others can't, which is a normal genetic variation. So do you know that you don't taste a bitterness in other stevia preparations, or is this your first experience with it? – rumtscho♦ Oct 26 '19 at 22:30
  • I've used it before but never noticed the bitterness. This was first time I had made pudding from scratch so wasn't sure if it was the Stevia. Thought about adding some honey to see if it would make it taste better. – Peggy Oct 27 '19 at 1:44
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    this is the recipe I used. 1 cup white sugar, or to taste, 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, 1/3 cup cornstarch, 1/4 teaspoon salt (optional), 3 cups unsweetened almond milk, 1 teaspoon butter (optional), 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional) Just used the Stevia (Walmart brand) – Peggy Oct 27 '19 at 1:47
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Just a little bit of expectation management: stevia has a naturally bitter aftertaste, and depending on the amount and type of extract, it can be very bitter. You might also be over using stevia if you're just substituting it without balancing your recipe.

When using sweeteners to replace sugar:

  1. Make sure to buy a sweetener that is already balanced to replace sugar on a 1:1 ratio so you don't overuse it and also don't lose the bulk of solid that sugar provides
  2. If the recipe allows you to add sugar to taste (since this is the case) because it doesn't rely on the sugar for bulk, texture or for balancing liquids, add it to taste and if possible, make it a tad undersweet. Less is more when we're talking about sugar and salt
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