I have only used stevia in coffee and to me, it tastes like vanilla was added to my brew. Others say they taste cotton candy and some find no taste to it, other than sweet. I am not sure I would use it in a spice blend for meats.

Both BF and I find Stevia unpalatable due to the aftertaste. He's a sugar junkie who claims it is "OK when you mix it with sugar to mask the taste." Huh?? :)
It might be OK with other spices for that reason. But anyway, different folks taste things differently. It isn't that horrible, but just not something I can tolerate in a sweetener. I prefer to just limit sugar, since I don't have much of a sweet tooth. It might be OK mixed with other stuff. But anyway, we have bought some things with Stevia and just not liked them so now avoid it. Your mileage may vary.

Your comments make me think I should just chalk this up to an experiment gone wrong. I was fooled by the "No Salt & No Sugar" claim. It never occurred to me that there was phony sugar in them just because most spice blends do not contain any sugar to start with. I paid more attention to the "No Salt" claim. Oh well, live & learn.

Thanks for your input.

I like most things with Stevia. I found that a lot of it has to do with which brand of Stevia you use as to it having an after taste or not. I carry Stevia in my purse for when I need a sweetener.

I would give it a go and try some of the spice blend, you won't know for sure until you try.

Well, you might want to try it out on something small. You know I like the IDEA of Stevia, I just haven't found the right way to enjoy it, lol!

I didn't like the taste when I tried it in a drink, but since you already have the spice mix you could just try it in a hamburger patty or something that's not an expensive cut.

My friend recommended Truvia saying it was the best of the Stevia brands. FWIW...My only experience is with Truvia which I think has a bit of a cotton candy taste. That said, with other spices it will probably be masked. I've "fooled" DH with it when making beets or on his grapefruit.

"Strange flavor" is pretty subjective.... It will depend on the amount in the mixture, and I bet it's not a lot if it was fairly low on the list of ingredients.

Some early versions of stevia had a licorice-like taste, but today's highly-processed powdered and liquid versions generally don't. I grew stevia in my herb garden this past summer and I actually liked the dried crushed leaves, so maybe it's the the plant leaves, not the highly-processed sweetener in the mixture. It is, after all, an herb. It is also called sweetleaf.

When it comes to large amounts of stevia (when used in baked goods and candies), you are more likely to detect something that is a mouth-feel or an aftertaste. "Stevia's taste has a slower onset and longer duration than that of sugar" and that is one of the sensations you can experience that is different than sugar-sweetened foods that is hard to explain, but easy to notice.

-Grainlady