Sunday, September 26, 2010

Stevia Extract

On a whim, I'd ordered some stevia seeds back in January or February - whenever it was that I'd ordered the spring's seeds.  Actually, it was because I had read that artificial sweetener companies had attempted to get stevia deemed illegal.

Come to read later, stevia is actually fairly difficult to grow.  I'd only planted two, and one did very well with minor tending.

I've read that stevia extract is far easier to use than dried, and dried stevia tends to leave an aftertaste.

Thursday, I harvested my stevia plant.  I soaked and rinsed it well to remove dirt and bugs... there was a big stink bug hiding among the leaves.  Yikes!

Then, I chopped up the leaves and the less woody parts of the stems and shoved it all into a clean mason jar.  

I added Everclear - about twice the amount of it than there was stevia, and let it sit for about 24 hours or so, shaking it up whenever I happened to walk by.

After it steeped, I strained it.  Yes, it really DOES look like lime Kool-Aid.

Then, I heated the liquid at a gentle simmer for 30 minutes to cook off some of the alcohol, let it cool, then used a syringe to put them in dropper bottles.  I can't wait to use this for coffee and tea!

4 comments:

  1. How did this work out for you? I've been interested in trying to make a stevia extract too.

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  2. Hi Penny! It worked out well with the extract. I've used it in coffee. :) I need to try it in my sweet tea next.

    Welcome to my blog!

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  3. How did it taste? I have been meaning to do this. I already use the Sweet Leaf brand, packets and liquid form and I really like it. My friend grows it herself and never has any trouble doing that. I meant to grow it too, but forgot. I am your new follower coming from Homesteading Today.

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  4. Hey katlupe!

    It's definitely sweet. I've used it in coffee, and I use it in my morning fruit/veggie smoothies.

    The stevia works better in the smoothies than the coffee, in my opinion.

    I'm going to make LOTS more next year. I only had one plant to work with this year.

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