Stevia fans???

[LBR]

Anyone else here growing stevia and eating some every day? I finally found some plants and have them in a container this year. Have been eating a few leaves every morning. Heard it lessens the desire for eating sweets and normalizes blood sugar.

[possum]

You have just reminded me that I bought a plant a few months ago. I must check on it to see if it doing OK in the herb garden. Does it die back in winter?

[MKG]

I'd never heard of stevia. Now I think it might be the answer to a winemaker's prayers - how to sweeten wine reasonably naturally without restarting the fermentation.

So thanks for the post, LBR

[marshlander]

Started growing for the first time this year. My plants are about 10 inches tall and I pinched out the tops a couple of weeks back to make them bushy.

Although I understand there may be some medicinal benefits, I'm growing it for it's incredible sweetness so I can cut back on sugar for fruit pies etc.

I hope to dry some when my plants are bigger, the dried leaves, crumbled or wizzed up in a coffee grinder are sold as green stevia powder.

I have also read that you add a tiny bit fresh or dried to the water along with your tea. It is so sweet - up to 300 times sweeter than sugar, that I expect I'll have to find out how to use it by trial and error.

Conversion rate is 3 - 4 teaspoons of green stevia powder = 1 cup of sugar (Cups are of course an American measure - about 8 oz?)

[snapdragon]

I bought seeds from Nicky's Nursery - and forgot to plant them

[Ratty]

Marshlander kindly gave me a Stevia plant and now that I've run out of sweeteners and don't intend to do a supermarket shop for at least a week I'm going to experiment with using a bit of a leaf to sweeten my tea. I'll report back soon!

[Annpan]

wow, I've never heard of it either.... sounds intriguing.

[LBR]

As far as I know, unless you're in a very warm climate, the stevia needs to spend the winter indoors.

http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/316/

In hardiness zones 9 and higher, it will be a perennial.

I bought plants and am growing them in containers on my deck. I'm in hardiness zone 7b (some maps say 8). We get temperatures of below freezing in the winter and sometimes as low as 0 (Fahrenheit). So my stevia will spend the winter in the kitchen.

[mauzi]

Hi all, It is true that in a cold climate they will need to winter indoors. We have tried them outside, even in protected places and they definitely died. Our temps are pretty cold over winter with heavy frost and light snow. Indoors we have managed to keep them going with care but find them a bit touchy. Not sure what everyone else's experience has been but like to hear.

DH is a diabetic so we have used them as a sweetener.

Cheers
Mauzi

[LBR]

I've never tried to dry and grind the leaves. Have used powdered stevia and stevia extract. I like to eat the leaves right from the plant. I've heard the leaves are sweeter when dried. Might be nice in cookies.

This is my first year growing them. I'm hoping they'll flower so I can grow some from seeds.

Other than stevia I use Rapadura, evaporated cane juice, from Rapunzel. It's my fav of the evap. cane juice products. Succanat is okay, but not as good as Rapadura. I use grade B maple syrup and sometimes raw, local honey.

For custards, I use the bulk organic sugar from the health food store, or in a pinch, from Domino.

If someone has dried stevia leaves and ground them, I'd like to know how it worked out.

[frozenthunderbolt]

I've been looking for plants or seeds in New Zealand but am yet to have any success in locating them

[prison break fan]

Intrigued by this, completely new to me, Can you buy seeds? MKG where have you been? My wine has had to struggle on without you! pbf

[shae]

Frozenthunderbolt - I had some ordered in for me by Kings Plant Barn on the North Shore in Auckland a few years back. Sadly I neglected them and they died, but I did dry the leaves and grind them - very sweet!
So maybe try asking around for them, maybe a garden centre might locate some for you.

[Green Aura]

We grew stevia a few years ago. We didn't really know how to use it and in researching I found this

http://www.cspinet.org/new/stevia.html

The research is probably funded by the sugar industry but, as I'd just had a cancer scare, we ditched it.

[LBR]

I left my plants outside, and didn't even harvest the seeds. Might try to plant the seeds. But, intend to just get new plants from the nursery in the spring. It was one of those things I just didn't "get around to".

Anyone tried drying and grinding the leaves?