Phase Two was harvesting and drying the stevia.
Phase Three entailed stripping the leaves and pulverizing said leaves in my Kitchen Aid blender. I had read that an herb grinder or coffee grinder works best. I even had a friend's permission to borrow her coffee grinder. But I thought I'd go ahead and try what I had on hand- my blender. It worked well. Probably not quite as well as a grinder would have, but I have no regrets.
I dumped the contents of the pulverized leaves from the blender into my fine sieve to catch any bigger pieces, then I put those back into the blender. Overall, the result was a very fine powder (that I enjoyed inhaling and tasting each time I took the blender lid off) of stevia.
So far, I've only been using it in tea. Less than an 1/8 of a teaspoon is plenty for a full mug of tea. Stevia is potent. I did find that using a tea strainer caught slightly larger granules. While the sweetness of the stevia clearly permeated the tea, it likes to hang out on top of the water/tea. I wasn't expecting it to float around up there, but it didn't cause any trouble, so I didn't mind.
Would you like to know how much stevia powder I ended up with after drying these 15 large plants?
One and 1/3 quart. Yep, that's it. It's good this stuff is potent.
Phase Four: Learning how to bake with it. Look for the results of this phase sometime after my Christmas break. According to my source, "You can also make your own liquid stevia extract by adding a cup of warm water to 1/4 cup of fresh, finely-crushed stevia leaves. This mixture should set for 24 hours and then be refrigerated." I haven't tried this yet, but may, depending on the recipes I find.
Until then, go ahead and add stevia to your garden plans for next year. Any crop that you can plant in the spring and then pretty much ignore until the fall, hang to dry and spend only a couple hours processing is a keeper in my book. A huge, added bonus is that this stuff is SWEET:-). Pin It
Stevia cookbooks are on my Christmas wish list! :D I've been wanting to ask where you get your seed. I had a really hard time (couldn't) finding it the past two years.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.rareseeds.com/stevia/
DeleteHow cool is that? I'm surprised it yielded so little in the end though...good thing you can ignore it! I wonder how long that amount will last? Any idea?
ReplyDeleteMichelles,
ReplyDeleteI think we ordered our seed, but soon discovered how difficult it is to get them to germinate, so we had to buy plants- at a local garden center. The plants were in the herb section.
I'm sure it will depend on how much we use it as to how long it will last. If you're just using it for sweetening drinks, it would go a long, long way.
thats really cool where did yopu get the plants for seads?
ReplyDeleteoh I see the answer you got them at a garden center thanks I guess I should read others comments first :)
ReplyDeleteCongratulations! Raising stevia is hard to do. I'm duly impressed.
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to hear about using it. The topic of sugar and HFCS came up the other day, and I thought of you and your stevia project. Thanks for sharing your findings with us!
ReplyDeleteUh oh ... looks like you've got a little bit of water at the bottom of your jar. You might want to put your powder into another dry jar so your stevia doesn't spoil.
ReplyDeleteThat is the thickness of the glass jar you are looking at.
Deletegroovyghosthunter,
ReplyDeleteI don't know how you found me, but you may have just saved my stevia harvest. Thank you.
That is really neat with your harvest. I bought dried stevia from mountainroseherbs and I am currently making a tincture out of it to use as a sweetener. I don't drink alcohol so I am making it with glycerin. It has been sitting on my counter for 2 weeks now. This was just another idea to make my own sweetener but I love your way too. Plus you grew your own. That is a lot better. Thank you for your blog. I am always inspired when I come here.
ReplyDeleteHerb grinders are often used to prepare spices and cooking herbs for culinary preparation. They are also used to prepare tobacco, as well as other legal herbs.
ReplyDeleteherb grinder
How awesome! I buy and use expensive liquid stevia from Whole Foods. I can hardly wait to give this a go next Spring. Thanks for sharing your adventure here.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing your experience! I love to try new ways to live w/o depending on grocery stores. I will have to try this next year.
ReplyDeleteDeborah