I guess I’m in the minority in that I can taste the difference between sugar and Equal, and I really don’t like it.  Sweet-N-Low is even worse.  Splenda doesn’t seem to have that much of an aftertaste, so if it has to be a sugar substitute, I’ll aim for that one.  There’s also a new one, I think in green packets, which I haven’t tried.

My problem with these things is that packaged food creators (snacks, shakes, sodas, etc) have decided that people want to cut down on sugar, which I believe is a good thing.  However, instead of cutting down on sugar (as one might foolishly expect), they drop sugar from the ingredient list and use a sugar substitute instead.

This causes two problems, in my book.  First, these substitutes are frequently sweeter than sugar, and so you need to put less in.  In my experience, they don’t get this right and the food/drink is even sweeter than before.  Ick!  Second, once I consume one of these, I’m stuck with a horrible aftertaste for a couple of hours.  I always avoid “diet” stuff because of this, but more and more, it’s finding its way into non-diet foodstuffs.  As I discover these lurking-horrible-flavor-bombs, I add them to my list of “don’t purchase this anymore”.  I wonder how many other people are doing this, and is that the kind of consumer response these manufacturers are hoping to create?