The Stevia Plant: How to Process it for Use by Christine

[Dept of PMM Artists & things]

So, we all have probably tried to firstly germinate our Stevia seeds, correct?  Buggers they are! I can grow anything but this particular plant is very high maintenance.  So after my initial try at starting my own plants, I ditched that idea, got into my vehicle and drove to my local garden center and picked up a young plant for under 5.00.  Was the best money I ever spent.  Shoved it in the ground and it took immediately!  Success at last!  If you don't plan to overwinter Stevia it grows very well in pots and then you can bring them indoors for the winter.  If allowing to overwinter, leave at least 6 inches of plant so that it won't die on you and not come back the following year.  Mine, I am happy to say is thriving and I overwintered it!

 

These plants get quite tall and spread so they need some room.  Just a heads up!

Oh and in case you are wondering!  3-4 teaspoons of Stevia replaces 1 cup of refined sugar!  Isn't that amazing?  However, most of us want to know what to do with the plant once we have it?  Well, there are several things you can do.  

The first and simplest thing to do is harvest the plant and hang it up to dry.  The optimal time for harvesting Stevia is in late summer, early fall when it's just about ready to flower.  Drying time is very quick,  you only use the leaves so discard the stalks, then grind up the leaves in a blender or food processor.  To use, add a very small amount when brewing tea.  When the tea has brewed you want to strain the herbs along with the stevia out as who like chunks in their tea?

You can also make Stevia extract two different ways.  There's the alcohol method and the water method.  I prefer the alcohol method as it lasts longer.  The water method will only keep for about 2 weeks.  So this is how you would do the alcohol based extract:

The fresh leaves are much better in my opinion as the dry tends to get a bit bitter but you may still use dry if you wish. 

Start with clean, leaves and tear them into bits.  Place them in a jar and pour enough alcohol to cover the plant material  store in a tight lidded container in a dark place for two days, shaking the mixture a few times a day.  You need not soak for more than two days as in doing so it will become more bitter..  I prefer vodka as it has the most neutral flavor.  After two days, strain through a coffee filter or other fine material, then take the stevia liquid and cook it over low heat (you don't want to boil it!) Simmer gently for 20-30 minutes.  it will get darker and thicker and you may see more particulates at this point.  When that's done you want to strain it again.  I use 4 ounce tincture bottles to store this in but you could use really anything for storage.  Cover, label and date.  This will keep in the refrigerator for about 3 months.  remember it only takes a few drops to sweeten a drink or to use in a recipe. 

The water method: You'll need:

1/2 cup dried stevia tightly packed and

1 cup of water

Bring water to a simmer, not a boil and steep the Stevia for 40 minutes.  Strain.  Store in the refrigerator.  This will only keep for about 2 weeks because it's basically plant juice!  

Considering a bottle of Stevia extract runs about $10.00 this is quite a remarkable, cost effective method to make it from a 5.00 plant that will give you years and years worth of sweet goodness.

You can obtain seeds if you'd like to try and germinate them...Good luck...at Mountain Rose Herbs

http://www.mountainroseherbs.com/seeds/seeds.html  You get 25 seeds per packet for 4.95.  I heard that the greener the seed, the easier it is to germinate.  Hope this helps!

Enjoy!