S&W Seed sweetens stevia market with two new strains

As consumers look for alternatives to artificial sweeteners, the stevia market is only getting sweeter, leading S&W Seed Co. to develop two stevia strains with the brand name of Kandi Leaf.

“It is our intention to build a portfolio of proprietary stevia varieties that we believe can add value at the front end of the supply chain to address the rapidly growing stevia market," S&W Seed CEO Mark Grewal said in a recent news release. "We view our branding capabilities of our unique stevia varieties as a key component to our commercialization strategy moving forward."

According to the release, the two unique strains were developed for enhanced flavor characteristics and for both the dry and fresh leaf market.

"Following years of research and development success, our stevia program is laying the foundation for commercial-based production contracts, royalty agreements and other R&D collaborations, as we await our patent protection being granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office,” Grewal said.

“The trademark for Kandi Leaf follows our earlier trademarking of Stevia California as we look to brand and market S&W's stevia development and commercialization program through the introduction of unique varieties.
S&W previously announced it has applied for two other stevia varieties for commercial processing.