Stevia

[FROSTYFRECKLE]

I've ordered in some Stevia seeds and just wanted to know did anyone use a propagator to get the seeds to germinate. Also has anyone bought a Stevia cookbook?. I've found a few recipes online but I'm tempted to get a cookbook off Amazon but there are a few to choose from.

[FROSTYFRECKLE]

Question for anyone growing Stevia. Did you pinch out the tip of the plant to make it bushier? I've got 4 plants, all from seed sown the same day. Two plants are about an inch or so tall but two are about a foot tall. The tall plants are not leggy just tall and photos I've seen of Stevia plants show bushy plants. If no-one knows I'll pinch out the tip of one plant

[Sarah_I]

Hi.
I've just bought some stevia plants from Norfolk Nurseries. I will be planting them on into 2 litre pots and overwintering them in my conservatory. As a diabetic, I am very interested in this as a very safe alternative to sugar or agave, or other fructose, as I find these still prompt a sugar rush....

Eaten raw the leaves are very sweet. There is an excellent article in Wikipedia. The EU is likely to approve stevia extracts as a sweetener late 2011, having found it safe. They recomment a maximum dosage of 4mg per kilogram for an adult. I have no idea how this relates to chewing or blending the leaf in a drink.

[penny]

Hi I bought some seeds from Kings but cannot get them to germinate, I have tried in and out of the heated propagator in good quality compost. I've used all the seeds now so will have to buy a plant I suppose.

[David_richards]

I've never tried growing the plant before but have have bought some of the stevia powder online as I read about it being a natural alternative and thought it a good idea. Tasted ok but you really should't use much, very sweet

[BarleySugar]

Stevia - propagating from cuttings

I got tempted by one of these when out with Kissykit yesterday (as well as a deep purple scabious, half price seeds (sweet peas, pansy, the blue scabious and the green manure with the blue flower, 3 small goldfish and a small koi that better grow pretty slowly)). I was reading up on it, and taking cuttings seems the best route to take if I want to overwinter it. A lot of th explanations seemed to involve lights and hormone rooting powder. Has anyone had success with propagating it, was it hard, does it need a lot of tlc etc please.

[Feral007]

I'll be looking at this too. I've been eyeing off a stevia plant in on of the magazines.

But I also want to know does anyone use stevia in cooking? I hate adding lots of sugar to things like cakes, but when I mentioned stevia the other day a friend said they'd tried it and it was so sickly sweet they gave up. Anyone else have luck?

[veggiechicken]

I've bought a Stevia plant twice. Propagated it with cuttings in water - reasonably successful! Had difficulty keeping the plants going overwinter though - but that might be me!
As for the taste - just too too sweet. Putting a leaf on my tongue was more than I could cope with - didn't really like the taste at all. Tried cooking rhubarb with stevia leaves in it but since I normally cook it without sugar anyway - just a pinch of ginger - I didn't notice much difference. Read about making a solution of Stevia leaves in water and cooking with that but the quantity of leaves to water didn't seem right and it was a weak sugary solution.
I like the priniciple but not the practice - if you know what I mean!!

[Ocelot]

I have a few plants, and they are very sweet to eat raw. I haven't tried cooking with them, as they don't caramelise like sugar.

I have tried some cuttings. I'll let you know how they get on.

[eospete]

There seems to be quite a variety of flavours and strengths depending on each plant. I got some nice ones and some nasty ones from the same batch of seeds. Find a plant you like and take cuttings from that. cuttings strike quite easily but protect them over winter inside. There is a great ebook by Jeen van der Meer which is well worth checking out. I use stevia to sweeten herbal teas rather than cooking. I don't consider it a one to one sugar replacement because to me it has its own taste, not unlike a sweet liquorice.

[Feral007]

Don't think I'll worry about it then. I don't take sugar in tea or coffee, and don't add sugar to fruit etc, just thought it would be a natural alternative to copious amounts of sugar. I'll just stick with the sugar, I hardly eat cakes much anyway.

[Snadger]

Popped a leaf into my mouth off one of these plants in the Garden centre tuther day. It was rather sickly sweet, more akin to how I imagine sucking a saccharin tablet would be.
It was rather a shock to the senses as I thought it would just be mildly sweet.

Must have a munch on a sugar beet sometime to make a comparison!

[dobaral]

I have read and head loots of benefits about stevia and I can't wait to get some seeds or cuts to try. I know in Spain, near Barcelona there is a farmer who has been growing and experimenting with lots of different medicinal plants and stevia is his flagship. He is campaigning for the recognition of the stevia and encourage everybody to try and grow it. Recently I have discovered stevia sweetener in TESCO so i guess it has been officially approved as a safe sweetener by the EU food authority otherwise they would not be able to sell it commercially. And if you can grow it at home and use it fresh instead of get the processed version is always better.!!

[taff]

I managed ot get two seeds to germinate, so I was waiting for it to flower to get more, but unfortunately, it's not playing ball....

[FROSTYFRECKLE]

Taff, you can take root cuttings from Stevia. Like you I've not flowers, so Googled and found out it is best to take root cuttings as the seeds produce plants with varying degrees of sweetness. Mind you never taken root cuttings just over-winter the plants. Also has anyone tasted the refined Stevia - eek, not nice! Noticeable aniseedy aftertaste and it foams up. Prefer the leaves.