Whole Foods Lifestyle - Fresh Stevia

I just bought a couple stevia plants--which will hopefully flourish. I broke a leaf off and put it in my mouth, and it seemed as sweet as the stuff that comes in the jar.

Any ideas? I imagine the chopped leaves could be added to tea or to foods...I look forward to finding out how to use the sweet flavor in stead of sugar.

I don't know where you are from, but I have heard that stevia is not very hardy. It is best kept in a pot so you can move it in and out doors with the weather and seasons. I haven't tried to grow it because it seemed fussy. With my schedule right now, I need something I can ignore and it still thrives. I have wondered about brewing stevia with tea and such too. I'd love to hear your results.

Oh, I am interested in this, too! I just started using raw Stevia, but never thought to try/get it in the original leaf form. I bet it would be awesome in tea!

I just found some interesting info on this page:

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/herbs/msg052336251160.html

It says the sweetness of stevia varies based upon soil and growing conditions, but the poster also gives some nice recipes to assist in using stevia.

I still look forward to hearing how yours works.

mtnheart:Thanks for the link. I will check it out.
Where I live, there is virtually no frost, and definitely no snow.
I am also looking for non-fussy plants, but since I live on the coast, different plants are fussy here. For example, I cannot grow rhubarb or cherries, but maybe that's good because I would probably make a lot more sweets then!

The plants don't seem to get very big, so I suppose you could probably take them indoors if you have a harsh winter--or you could build a green house--but it sounds a lot easier to just buy it at the store!

The lady at the plant store told me that her biggest problem with them was over-watering.

I think it probably takes a lot more fresh or dried stevia to equal the same sweetness of the store products. I will definitely check out that link now, thanks.

Wow! That was an informative link, thanks!