摘要：Stevia is a plant of great scientific interest due to its high sweetening power and its health benefits giving birth many researches related to changes of this quality by applying a conservation process. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the influence of different drying techniques (convection, vacuum, microwave, infrared, shade and freeze drying) on proximal analysis, vitamins C and E, fatty acid and amino acid profiles and steviosides from Stevia leaves. Stevioside was the main sweetener found in fresh sample and showed significant increase in all treatments, although convective was the less aggressive treatment (7.45% DM) followed by vacuum (7.02% DM). Stevia leaves may be used as a nutritional complement besides its sweetening power.
