Standard Operating Procedure of Stevia Extraction Process

Stevia rebaudiana has recently gained the attention of food industry as one of the natural sweeteners. The sweet flavor is contributed by the glycosides compound included stevioside, rebaudiosides A to F, rubusoside, steviolmonoside, steviolbioside, and dulcoside A. Among these glycosides, the rebaudioside A and stevioside are 70% of the total glycosides in stevia. Therefore, they were used as stevia chemical markers in this study. The aim of the work reported here was to develop the extraction method of stevia using Hot Water Extraction (HWE) technique. In this paper, the extraction, precipitation and separation processes involved in HWE techniques for stevia were studied and developed. The glycosides yield from each processes were analyzed by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC). Approximately 283.5 mg purified glycosides contained of rebaudioside A and stevioside was quantified by High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) in HWE. Therefore, from the obtained results suggest the HWE is an efficient technique for stevia extraction. (author)