Sweet!

 While in the potting room and emptying the dehydrators, it occurred to me that in addition to  a good chunk of time dehydrating, I have also invested a bit of time, especially on these hotter days, in coming up with ways to keep myself and our family hydrated. We keep a water cooler on the kitchen counter and I enjoy throwing all sorts of things like lemon balm, ginger, bits of fruit and natural juices to keep it interesting. Lemonades are one of my downfalls though. I love a good lemonade and like to make them with everything  from blueberries to raspberries-- whatever is fresh. The problem isn't the fruit. It's the sugar. 

So, last year, I decided to try growing stevia. I'll admit, despite our growing it, I did very little with the harvest. This year, we grew stevia again. I'm still new to figuring out how to utilize this natural sweetener in baked goods, but I've decided that it's an interesting and tasty alternative for sweetening up some beverages. The leaves dry up beautifully on the dehydrator, which make them usable well after summer. No doubt that all of you are familiar with stevia, so I am not going to school you on all of its benefits etc. Like I said, I'm still learning about different ways in which I can use this plant while still nurturing my sweet tooth. Stevia is actually in the chrysanthemum family. It has been said to be two hundred times sweeter than sugar. 

Growing and making your own stevia extracts is super easy. One plant can be harvested off all summer, and if you dry some of the leaves, you can enjoy it until the next gardening season. Don't get me wrong, I haven't found a substitute yet for real sugar. Oh, how I love it! Stevia, however, can be incorporated into beverages pretty easily if you want to give it a try.

We eat and drink with our eyes, so you might be thrown off when you make extract to see that the result is not clear. It is actually green. Yes, green. If you let the leaves sit too long in water or vodka, the result will not only be green, but bitter. Stevia is also sweeter when harvested in the fall, or when you dehydrate the leaves.

Interested in making your own extract?

1. Harvest your stevia plant by cutting off the branches at the base of the plant. To get several cuttings throughout the summer, I give my plant a couple of "haircuts."

2. Wash the branches and leaves. Pick off the leaves and discard the stems. Dehydrate the leaves or use fresh.

3. If you wish to use dry, grind the dried leaves in a food processor or coffee grinder until you have a fine powder. The approximate substitution for sugar is 3-4 teaspoons of homegrown stevia to 1 cup of sugar.

4. Liquid stevia is easy too. Pour boiled water over freshly harvested and cleaned leaves. (I used a cup of loosely packed, fresh leaves to one quart of water.) Refrigerate. After 24 hours, strain out the leaves, and store the liquid extract in the refrigerator.  I used this approach and made a delicious lemonade.
   

This fall, I plan to make an alcohol based extract with vodka that I hope to be able to use in baked goods. 

I'd love to hear from those who have used fresh stevia, and the different ways in which you have enjoyed it. Let me know!