Honey herb plant
The most useful sweet components, or steviol glycoside (rebaudioside / rebA and stevioside), are found in the leaves of the honeydew. The ingredients steviol glycoside are extracted from the honeybee leaves.
The honeysuckle plant is usually grown as an annual crop in Europe, but can be kept as a perennial plant in a favourable climate. The plant can grow more than one metre high and has narrow leaves that are up to three centimetres long.
The healthy components of the honeyweed plant are nowadays used not only in foodstuffs but also in facial creams, hand creams, foot ointments, lip balms and toothpastes.
Honey herb sweetener
Sweeteners based on stevia rebaudiana or honeygrass are used especially in Japan as a natural sweetener for soft drinks. Although the honey herb plant has been used for centuries as a healthy stevia sweetener in the countries of origin, its use in concentrated form in foodstuffs was not permitted in the European Union, with the exception of France, until the end of 2011. This was because according to the Scientific Food Committee of the European Union, the safety of sweetener Stevia was not established.