Stevia

[ShaunaRB]

Hi everyone,
I was wondering if anyone has heard of or uses Stevia? I just read an article in Herb Quarterly on Stevia and how it's sweeter than table sugar and how to use it instead of sugar. But before I go out and buy the perennial shrub I was wondering if anyone has an experiences with it?

Thanks so much! :)

[Deberosa]

I grew Stevia one year. One thing is that the plant is not a perrenial so you either have to take it inside in the winter or plant new each year. I dried the leaves and also used fresh leaves in teas. For cooking I used the processed Stevia you can buy in stores.

It is very sweet and a great substitute for sugar in my opinion.

The plants I got grew to about 18 inches tall and 12 inches in diameter in one season. I grew them in pots on the patio.

Debbie

[ShaunaRB]

You're right Deb...my mistake. It's a perennial in Central and South America.
I never noticed it on the shelves at the store, I'll have to look closer next time I go. Did you buy the processed Stevia and then reconstitute it at home? I read that it was cheaper to buy the powder and then add water to reconstitute it at home, since buying it in liquid form was more expensive. Do you still use it and if not, why?( Sorry, I'm not trying to be nosy, I just want to hear the pros and cons of switching)
When I read the article the first thing that came to my mind was "Hmmm, I could add another shrub and save money on groceries." Sorry I'm asking so many questions...I just want other opinions before I spend the money to try it.

[michiganmom]

Just today the lady at the herb store gave me a handfull of stevia packets to try and i like it in my tea. Its not to bad.

[butterflycayton]

I use stevia powder I bought online in my coffee and tea everyday. I was wanting to see I could get it to grow also. In one cup of coffee I use about 1/8 of a teaspoon. I like mine with sweetner and milk :)

[ShaunaRB]

I just bought the plant to grow. I guess once I dry out the leaves I just grind / smash it into a powder? I'll probably have to google to find out how to make it into a powder to use in my tea and coffee.
I also like my coffee with sweetner and cream butterfly! :D

[Funmommy]

A couple more questions. *;)

1.) Does anyone know if there are carbs in Stevia?
* * I would LOVE to find a low carb or no carb option to sugar.

2.) Does anyone know if there are restrictions for pregnant women with this plant?
* * I get Diabetes every time I get pregnant so I'm just curious.


Edited: I found the answer for question 1 but I'm still looking for the answer to question 2.

[sissy]

Funmommy,
What the answer to question 1?
Sissy

[Funmommy]

It's Carb Free ;D
Which means it's a good thing for those who are diabetic.
However there's a lot of controversy on whether or not it causes
cancer and reduces the ability for pregnancy through both
male and female. But asian countries have been using it for years
without any known problems.
However how much of a sweet tooth do they have?
There's still too many questions for me yet.

[Anon001]

In my opinion, if you are growing stevia to use, even if it has risks, it can't be as harmful for you as refine sugars from sugar beets or sugar cane. (However, sugar beets and sugar cane raw are not bad for you....)

[Funmommy]

Very True :D
I'm not sure if I'll get some this year or not because
I'm working on a LOT for my first year. :o
I'm pretty sure I'm already overdoing it as it is. ;D
Now if it wasn't so much fun ..... ;)

[Anon001]

I'll bet you're doing just fine

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I know this thread is older-sorry to restart it. But I was wondering how those of you who grow stevia to dry and use get rid of that "green" taste? I have purchased stevia at the organic market where my son lives a few times in both dried greens and in the packets. The dried "real" stevia has that plant taste which is not present in the processed packet supplements. But the price is much better in the plants rather than the packets. I would rather pay two dollars for a bunch of dried leaves rather than eight for 25 packets. And growing it yourself would even be better than buying the dried.

[*mitzy*]

One brand name in the stores is Truvia and it is pretty good. $$$$

I bought some seed but never got around to planting them - next year.

How much of a green taste is there and is it bitter? When you use the plant.

I'm glad this was brought back to the top and I would be very interested in what anyone that grows it has to say.

Now that I think about it, my sister, the health nut, gave me some liquid stevia from a health store and it was nasty. I might force myself to use it, if I grow it myself.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I like the liquid drops. I just didn't like the dried leaves that you crumble into a powdery substance. They just tasted "green". I have never purchased the truvia stuff, but I get the small liquid bottles for two dollars each at the health food store every time we drive to see our son in the city. They last for a few months because it just takes two drops for a cup or glass of tea. I love the stuff. It is sweeter than saccharine.

[TNDadx4]

I use Truvia (little packets) and find the taste to be not too bad and better than Splenda. It's also healthier for you.

I am just starting to investigate growing it as well, but I wanted to throw my support in for using it.

[MotherCharlotte]

I have used the white Stevia powder and the drops in my tea, and I like it very much. I have blood sugar issues so I need to control my sugar intake. I'd like to try growing the plant next year.

[keydl]

Stevia is now at Wally-world - not with the food but with the supplements by the drugs.

One packet will do a gallon of sweet tea, it does not heat well so add it at room temp. It takes twice as much for sun tea if you put it in to brew as an hour after the tea is in the house.

With diabetes HFCS, CS, corn syrup, and the alcohol based sweeteners such as xyletol are a real help in making it permanent and make management difficult. That takes out most of the middle of the supermarket for eating. The stevia allows a little of the customary taste if you are not sensitive to it.

[NCLee]

Thanks for bumping this back up and for your note on WalMart having it.

Trying the commercial version and growing it have been on my to-do list for a while. Trying to cut down as much as possible on refined cane/beet sugar and definitely on corn syrup, as my Sis is pre-diabetic. (She had it, but brought it under control to the point she doesn't need meds, right now.)

Although we use some Sweet & Low and Splenda, I don't trust the claims they are safe, even with moderate useage. Would definitely want to use something else, providing it doesn't have a negative affect on the various meds that are being taken in this household.

Lee

[GoodDaughter]

I bought a stevia plant in a 4" pot the other day when I bought a few herb plants (rose scented thyme and lemon thyme, which are both wonderful). The stevia was a bit leggy so I pinched it back when I planted it, and stuck the leaves in my mouth and chewed it up. Yes, definitely very sweet, but also unpleasantly akin to saccharine. I really hate the taste of saccharine.

I thought I would buy the stevia plant and dry some of the leaves so that when steeping home-made herbal teas, I could just put in a bit of dried leaf. I don't like teas of any kind very sweet--either no sweetening or just the tiniest hint of it. But not sugary icky sweet. I'll have to actually test it sometime to see if my theory will work.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

You're right Deb...my mistake. It's a perennial in Central and South America.
I never noticed it on the shelves at the store, I'll have to look closer next time I go.

Lowes had stevia (and all herbs) buy one get one free this weekend up until today 4/26. I think it was 3.49 for two five inch pots of it. If you have a Lowes near you, it might be worth a call and a drive to pick it up before the sale is over at close of business today.

[CarolAnn]

Since Stevia is about 300X sweeter than sugar, it's a little tricky to use! (How do you divide a cup by 300?!) Obviously, use a tiny bit and if that isn't enough, add a very tiny bit more. I find that I taste "sweetness" just by removing the lid from my jar of powdered Stevia!

I just got a Stevia Cookbook because I wondered how you keep the texture of sweets when you leave the sugar out. Sugar is not only sweet, but it holds moisture and softens baked goods such as cookies. One way they've done is to use unsweetened applesauce to replace the sugar, and then make that sweet as sugar with a little Stevia. Applesauce will have some carbs, though - but not as much as sugar. How many carbs? Depends on the type of apple used to make the sauce!

If you buy unsweetened applesauce, it'll say on the package. If you make your own, carbs can vary HUGELY in apples! (25 for Granny Smith up to 64 for Sweetsop.)

My guess is that you could use a juicy vegetable - we all know carrots work to make moist cake, and zucchini makes moist bread. There's lots of experimentation to be done to get a sweet, low-carb snack! Using sweet spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, anise or cardamom or citrus - (orange or lemon peel or oil) will also cover any Stevia plant "green" taste.

[macgeoghagen]

I can't stand stevia. at first its overpoweringly sweet, then theres a long lasting vaguely bitter, vaguely nasty taste. It taints sweet ice tea in the same way nutrisweet or splenda do. The sweet is hollow, and the aftertaste is rotten.

Disclaimer: I have more sensitive taste buds than most.

[sewserious]

Splenda has no aftertaste to me. I haven't tried stevia yet but would like to except......you can't bake with it! At least with Splenda, I can bake with it or mix it with regular sugar to cut down on calories, etc. My mom is diabetic, so I appreciate the fact that I can use Splenda as a good sugar substitute and cut the carbs way down in a lot of foods! It tastes and behaves the most like sugar of any of the substitutes IMHO. Oh, and Splenda now comes in a brown sugar blend; part brown sugar and part Splenda. Helps me cut down on calories for baking all those cookies, etc at the holidays.

[NCLee]

Lowes had stevia (and all herbs) buy one get one free this weekend up until today 4/26. I think it was 3.49 for two five inch pots of it. If you have a Lowes near you, it might be worth a call and a drive to pick it up before the sale is over at close of business today.

While I didn't see your post in time to get in on the sale, picked up two pots of them, today, anyway. Thanks for the heads up about Lowes.

Funny, in a way. Asked a couple of sales people in the garden dept about where to find them. Don't know, ask ---> him. Him, ask ----> her. One even called someone. Finally found them myself. Got a few thank you's for telling us where they were, while on the way to check out. LOL

Lee

[ShaunaRB]

...but I actually went out and bought the Stevia plant 2 years ago to give it a try. I must say I was impressed!! And... it came back last year bigger than the year before!! So maybe it is a perennial here in Md? We had a couple of blizzards here last year so I thought for sure it wouldn't come back and went and bought another one last spring. A month later the original plant was back and growing like crazy!! If it comes back again this year I'll get pics and post them here. Hubby just bought me a dehydrator (finally!! after asking for 3 years!! lol) so I'm going to give it a try with drying out the leaves this year.
Anyone care to update on their Stevia experience? It would be greatly appreciated!!

[jake]

I also would like to hear more of people's experiences in growing Stevia. I just bought 100 seeds for planting this spring. I will start them indoors. I am in zone 5 in Ontario, so I don't think this plant will make it over our winters.

http://www.jggroupstevia.com/cart/html/211.html

Any comments on the hardiness of this plant, preferred soils, harvesting techniques, etc? I am going to be planting it in rows in a mostly clay soil. Will start the indoors. They apparently need to be started in a greenhouse tray with a lid, and lots of light, for the first few weeks, they like heat.

I will also post back here later in the summer to let you know of my own experiences.

[Moody Vaden]

I grew stevia from seed a few years back. It had a real lousy germination rate, something like 20% and it does not like the cold at all, especially the young plants. I live in Maryland too, so I'm impressed that the poster above got it through a winter here. Maybe the area had some sort of micro climate going on or something? I did manage to get a couple plants about 3' tall. I have talked to others with pretty much the same experience. Most people don't go with seed, and buy the live plants because they are so hard to start. I believe they put out an incredible amount of seed and that is probably why. I hope this helps.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I grew a bunch of stevia this year. It is awesome when it is fresh, just pick a leaf off the plant and stick it in your tea. But I still can't get past the green taste from the dried, powdery stevia in winter. It's just as bad from the health food store as it is dried at home. The drops are good though.

[ShaunaRB]

I live in Maryland too, so I'm impressed that the poster above got it through a winter here. Maybe the area had some sort of micro climate going on or something? I did manage to get a couple plants about 3' tall. I have talked to others with pretty much the same experience.

I live on the Baltimore city/county line. I have it planted right up against the house on the north east side of the house. Don't know if that helped at all or not. When I bought the plant I was told it needed full sun, but where I planted it, it got sun half of the day. Like I said, I'm excited to see if it comes back! :)

[Cougarwalker79]

I grew stevia in my garden this year, to give it a try. It grew pretty easily in NE Ohio, but we cut it down at the end of the season to dry it.

I personally haven't been impressed with it, and we rarely use it in our teas etc. It is very sweet, but ours has a horrible bitter aftertaste. I don't know if that is because we were steeping it with the hot water for the tea, or because it's just inherently bitter. I may have to try adding it after the tea has chilled and see how that works.

We were disappointed to find out that we didn't like the flavor, because we were hoping to use it in all of our sweetening applications where we didn't need the moisturizing properties of actual sugar.

[momma_to_seven_chi]

IIt is very sweet, but ours has a horrible bitter aftertaste.

It's not bitter or green tasting when you use it right off the plant. It's when it has been dried. I wish I knew how to solve that.

[Moody Vaden]

I live on the Baltimore city/county line. I have it planted right up against the house on the north east side of the house. Don't know if that helped at all or not. When I bought the plant I was told it needed full sun, but where I planted it, it got sun half of the day. Like I said, I'm excited to see if it comes back! :)

Please let me know if it comes back, as I would like a cutting or seed from that plant for sure.

[ShaunaRB]

Please let me know if it comes back, as I would like a cutting or seed from that plant for sure.

Will do! :)

[Nancymw]

I tried the packets of Stevia from the health food store. We use them in our tea all the time. I also grew stevia in a pot one year. Grew fine on the deck. In August I picked and dehydrated in electric dehydrator. I put in freezer to grind to powder later. Then I read that it doesn't taste as good that way!!!

I read it is better to hang upside down and dehydrate the old fashioned way and it will taste sweeter. I am growing some more in a pot this summer and trying that to see the difference. Till then, I splurge and buy the packets of Stevia. My husband uses Truvia also and likes. Won't have that Splenda in the house! My mother in law put some coffee in the microwave with Splenda to heat up - it blew up on her!

[LoiDreams]

I have a stevia plant that I trim back to keep it from getting leggy. I air dry the leaves and don't find them bitter. I have heard that drying in a dehidrator will make it bitter.

LoiDreams

[ShaunaRB]

Ok gang, believe it or not, my Stevia is coming back for a third year! And it seems to have spread over into the next box (which is about 2 feet away). Pictures are below. Like I previously said, I know it's supposed to be an annual here in Md. but this makes 3 years for this one plant!! Woohooooo!!

[Moody Vaden]

Ok gang, believe it or not, my Stevia is coming back for a third year! And it seems to have spread over into the next box (which is about 2 feet away). Pictures are below. Like I previously said, I know it's supposed to be an annual here in Md. but this makes 3 years for this one plant!! Woohooooo!!

I think you've got something there! What kind of location is it in? How much sun? Any kind of protection? micro-climate? I would love to get some of that seed from you or even a clump division.

I picked up a packet and started another round this year. Out of the entire packet, I got 4 seedlings. Must not like all the human interaction and just rather do its own thing...

[poisonivie]

http://www.stevia.com/Stevia_article/Growing_Your_Own_Stevia/8077
http://www.stevia.net/growingstevia.htm
http://www.ehow.com/how_5579253_harvest-stevia-plant.html
Heres a few site that may help you with the stevia

[momma_to_seven_chi]

ShanaRB-- I am so impressed! We are growing stevia again this year. I really like the plant. It is so easy to grow, and you can just snip off the tips every few weeks to get it to bush out. It would be great if it turned out to be a perennial here.

[karlamaria]

I can't stand stevia. at first its overpoweringly sweet, then theres a long lasting vaguely bitter, vaguely nasty taste. It taints sweet ice tea in the same way nutrisweet or splenda do. The sweet is hollow, and the aftertaste is rotten.

Disclaimer: I have more sensitive taste buds than most.
I thought it was just me, but the after taste is so over powering! I tried truvia, I tried liquid I tried it all and man I can not take the bitter after taste. Im loaded with it all and even my kids will not touch it.

[GentleLady]

You actually can bake with stevia. I made a apple/pear flan which was out of this world using stevia as the sweetner. All my friends loved it and wanted the recipe. I use a brand of processed stevia called KAL, I buy it at Sprouts stores. Very good. I've tried the actual dried leaf and found it unplesant. I would like to grow some though and see if there is any technique for making it taste like the processed.
Lisa

[IndyHom]

We grow stevia but we don't use ours like the packaged stuff. I just throw the leaves fresh or dried into whatever I'm brewing and use it like an herb. I believe the process stuff is an extract, so it dissolves to some degree. Also known as sweet leaf, it is easy to just use as an herb in your blend. It is VERY sweet. I like the fresh better than that from the store because I think it has less of an after taste.

Some interesting info. http://healthfree.com/stevlife.html

[momma_to_seven_chi]

I like the fresh better than that from the store because I think it has less of an after taste.


And if you dry it you still get that nasty green aftertaste. The Amish ladies told me to bring the plant in, alive and green, in the fall in a small pot. That way you can keep picking off a leaf as needed and replant it outside the next spring. Just keep clipping it back so it doesn't bloom.

[Nancymw]

I grew my own stevia plant and harvested the leaves in late August. I dehydrated in an electric dehydrator. Mistake. Not so sweet kind of odd. I was going to grind the batch in my spice grinder. I read you need to hang it up to dry to get it sweeter. I did not get it growing this year, away too long for watering, so I did not get to try the hanging drying to see the difference. As long as I can buy the Stevia , I will. I like that in my lemondade, iced tea and regular tea and cereal, etc.

[Cougarwalker79]

I tried growing stevia last year, and it did well. But like a lot of other people on here have said, I found it to have a horrible bitter aftertaste that I just don't like. So I have a big bag of dried stevia now that I really have no use for.