Uses for stevia

[Scerakor]

I have been growing stevia in my indoor herb garden for the last year or so. It has been doing quite well in the conditions of the kitchen but I find that I am not using it very often. Every now and then I will pluck a couple of leaves off for a batch of lemonade, but beyond that, it often stays unused.

Does anyone else grow stevia? What are some of your creative uses for it that I'm not yet tapping into?

 

[veg11]

That is so cool! I have never heard of somebody growing it themselves. We have just always bout it as a powder. Anyway, I love stevia Because It works vary well in tea. I don't know how you could make the powder, but I'm sure you can

 

[Scerakor]

That is so cool! I have never heard of somebody growing it themselves. We have just always bout it as a powder. Anyway, I love stevia Because It works vary well in tea. I don't know how you could make the powder, but I'm sure you can

Actually it is quite simple to make into a powder. You just need to harvest the leaves and leave them to dry, usually on a large surface. Once the leaves are nice and crispy you can either crush them up by hand (if you don't mind the uneven size in chunks) or you can use some sort of kitchen appliance. I often just rub the dry leaves in my hands but have heard that coffee grinders and things like a magic bullet work well for this kind of purpose (not just stevia but any herbs that you dry and grind).

 

[veg11]

Hmmm... Were did you buy your plants?

 

[Scerakor]

This time of the year the farmers markets are overflowing with pre-started herbs and vegetables for the garden. The one that I went to last (and this year) had stevia with the rest of the herbs. It is a local farmers market type area on the south shore of Montreal.

 

[lurhstaap]

Stevia works great as a sweetener in pretty much any of the same ways you'd use normal sugar from what I've heard. Maybe try using it in savory recipes that call for sugar?

 

[LindaKay]

Wow, that is really neat. I have seen stevia in the grocery store, but I've never heard of anyone growing it. How exciting! I would want to be trying it in everything!

 

[Rzashida]

I have tried twice to get stevia from seed this year. So far I haven't been lucky. I am going to keep trying, I'm trying to eliminate buying anything from the store and that includes sugar.

 

[ACSAPA]

I didn't know you could just dry stevia and make your own sweetener. Now I want to buy some for my container garden.
That's really cool. I think I use too much sugar anyway and stevia is supposed to be better for you.

 

[Ruth B]

I would love to say that I've had successes with my stevia plants. But I haven't. I tried it last year, I had two plants, I gave one to my mother, and no matter where she put it, it didn't like it. For me, I have found it loves mostly shade. But I could not ever get the water ratio right. Apparently neither could she. I thought her's died because she did not ever cut it and use it. I did however, but no matter what we did, both of ours died.

Currently this year I have one again. It is quite tall, and seems to be really traumatized when I snip it. It does not bush out like other herbs when I snip it. Neither of them have.

I love having one, and they are easy to get here. But it seems to be really requiring something particular and I don't know what it is.

 

[claudine]

I've never tried to grow stevia. To be honest, I don't even know what this plant looks like. But I heard that many people use it as a sweetener. Is it really sweet? If it is, I'd add it to all my desserts

 

[Ruth B]

Yes, it's quite sweet. I really love it and would use it more but I'm not that much of a 'sweets' person, but sugar is called for sometimes so I love stevia when I use it

!. Here is mine. It's still in the container from the store. But gives the pictures.

 

[Ruth B]

I have been growing stevia in my indoor herb garden for the last year or so. It has been doing quite well in the conditions of the kitchen but I find that I am not using it very often. Every now and then I will pluck a couple of leaves off for a batch of lemonade, but beyond that, it often stays unused.

Does anyone else grow stevia? What are some of your creative uses for it that I'm not yet tapping into?

Ok, so maybe that's what I'm doing wrong, you pull the leaves, NOT snip it like regular herbs? Oh wow, it may be why mine don't like me for long.

 

[Chuck]

Ok, so maybe that's what I'm doing wrong, you pull the leaves, NOT snip it like regular herbs? Oh wow, it may be why mine don't like me for long.

I've tried growing stevia outside in the ground a couple of times without success. It grows good for a time and then just fades away. I don't think it likes our climate very much

 

[claudine]

Thank you for sharing these pictures, Ruth B. Now, I know what are we talking about I must get a plant like this, too. I love sweet things, a delicious treat always puts me in a good mood Also, new herbs are always very welcome on my windowsill