Stevia extracts with selected major steviol glycosides (Reb A, stevioside, Reb D, Reb C) and minor steviol glycosides and glycosylated diterpene derivative plant molecules, derived from Stevia rebaudiana plant are found to improve the perception of flavor and taste perception, which includes the sweet, savory and salty perception in a wide range of food and beverage applications.

The present invention aims to provide a rebaudioside A-containing beverage, a production Method thereof, and a method of reducing bitterness of rebaudioside A, wherein the bitterness of rebaudioside A, particularly the bitter aftertaste of rebaudioside A, is reduced. The present invention relates to a rebaudioside A-containing beverage containing rebaudioside A at a concentration of 30 to 2000 ppm and an ethyl glycoside at a concentration of 5 to 5000 ppm.

Beverages comprising a sweetening amount of rebaudioside AM and rebaudioside M in sweetening amounts are provided. Said beverages have improved flavor profiles, including more rounded flavor. Methods of preparing beverages and methods of improving the flavor profile of beverages are also provided.

The present invention provides a Stevia plant comprising useful steviol glycoside such as rebaudioside D at higher content as compared with known Stevia species. The present invention also provides a method of producing such a Stevia plant, and a dried leaf and an extract obtainable from such a plant.

The invention provides methods for making steviol glycosides, including RebM and glycosylation products that are minor products in stevia leaves, and provides enzymes, encoding polynucleotides, and host cells for use in these methods. The invention provides engineered enzymes and engineered host cells for producing steviol glycosylation products, such as RebM, at high purity and/or yield. The invention further provides methods of making products containing steviol glycosides, such as RebM, including food products, beverages, oral care products, sweeteners, and flavoring products.

A natural flavor complex obtained from Stevia plants is described. The natural flavor complex functions to modify the flavors of a consumable product without imparting detectable sweetness to the product.

The present invention provides a process for preparation of highly purified mogrosides mixture from low purity mogrosides mixture. The process comprises providing a mixture of low purity mogrosides, dissolving the low purity mogrosides mixture in water or an aqueous alcohol solution to form an initial solution of mogrosides, passing the initial solution through a column system, wherein the column system comprises a plurality of columns, and each column is packed with a sorbent having different affinities to impurities and mogrosides so that one or more columns retains more mogrosides than other columns, washing the columns to remove impurities with an acidic aqueous solution, a basic aqueous solution, and an aqueous alcoholic solution successively, eluting the columns with an aqueous alcohol solution that contains higher alcohol content than the aqueous alcohol solution used in the washing step, wherein the eluate from the columns with high content of mogrosides are combined, and drying the combined eluate to obtain high purity mogrosides with the content of the total mogrosides are more than 70% (w/w). The present invention also provides a sweetener mixture and product comprising high purity mogrosides.

The present invention is directed to a composition comprising a mixture of steviol glycosides comprising at least one glucosylated steviol glycoside, and a natural masking agent, said natural masking agent being obtainable from carob and/or a citrus fruit; a flavor modifier, flavor enhancer or sweetness enhancer comprising said composition; the use of said composition and a method of making the composition.

A Stevia extract made from leaves of the Stevia rebaudiana plant is described. The extract has desired levels of steviol glycosides and is useful in food, beverage, and other consumable products.

The invention relates to a sweetener composition, in particular having a reduced physiological calorific value (energy content), preferably for sweetening food, wherein the sweetener composition contains a combination of at least one sweetener and at least one water-soluble, bulk substance, and to the use of said sweetener composition.