As I knew nothing about growing Stevia and information on the web about growing it in northern Europe was pretty much non-existent, I planted mine in various locations to see which it preferred.
It seems to not be too fussy, as long as it was well watered and kept reasonably warm it thrived and although I didn't plant any outside, I feel in a better summer than we had this year, it would have thrived outside too.
Now I have started to harvest it and I think I now have it sussed. I first tried the leaves just dried and powdered, which sort of worked but left a lot to be desired. My main need is for a sugar free sweetener for baking, cakes, buns and puddings and although the powdered leaf did the sweetening job, it did flavour the cake with a sort of vague vegetable hint and also made a cake with a greenish speckles.
The second try was making a tincture with alcohol and that works a treat. I filled a jar with dried chopped leaves and covered it with really cheap vodka, shook it occasionally, left it for 24 hours and then strained it.
The result is an incredibly sweet green liquid that is used at 2 drops = 1 teaspoon of sugar.
OH made a batch of cherry buns on Saturday and the result was fantastic, the green colour disappeared as soon as it was mixed in and the buns were the right texture with no weird after taste.
I think I might have grown a bit too many plants though, I have 20 plants and I harvested 2 to get half a litre of sweetener.
If you use it for baking does it not effect the texture of the sponge? There is chemistry behind cooking and fiddleing with the indridients alters the final product, obviously.
