Is Your Stevia Real?
Today I want to expand a little on a post I did 6 months ago. In this video, featured below, I show you how to make your own pure stevia and liquid stevia. Making and growing your own stevia is very simple. You can save a lot of money by making your own stevia and take comfort in knowing that this is the “real” thing and not the fake stevia that is all over our markets today!
Since stevia has taken off in the health food markets, a lot of fake and un pure stevia has shown up on the shelves. A clear example would be Truvia made by the Coca Cola Company. It is made to taste like sugar and look like sugar to sell like sugar.
Stevia is not supposed to taste like sugar and a true stevia is actually green, not white. Stevia has a very sweet taste, yes, but if you use too much it can quickly become bitter.
Does Your Stevia Have Added “Hidden” Sugar?
A lot of stevia for sale today has added ingredients and hidden sugars added. Remember “ose” on the end of a word is usually another form of sugar. One of these ingredients that you see often in this so called pure stevia is dextrose! Stay away from this, it is sugar and there is nothing pure about it.
When purchasing stevia, make sure the ingredients are OLNY pure stevia (no artificial colors, flavors or added preservatives) then you would probably be okay to consume this.
How To Make Your Own Pure Stevia & Liquid Stevia
If you are wanting to make sure your stevia is pure, then try making it yourself. Growing stevia is super easy. You can pick up a stevia plant at your local nursery and I have also seen them at home improvement stores in their garden centers. Stevia plants have become very easy to find these days.
Stevia can be grown in pots, in landscapes, and in gardens. You can even grow stevia indoors. It requires very little maintenance. It can be harvested all summer long but is sweetest in the fall when the temperatures become cooler.
When your stevia is ready to harvest (you can view my stevia that is ready for harvest in the video below) then follow these simple steps to make your own pure stevia and liquid stevia.
- Harvest your stevia plant by cutting off the branches at the base of the plant.
- Wash the branches/leaves in clean filter water.
- Pick leaves off stevia plant, discard the stems, and dry the leaves for 12 hours in the sun.
- Once your leaves are dry, grind them in a food processor or coffee grinder to make pure stevia. I find that a coffee grinder makes for the finest powder and works very nicely.
- Note ~ homegrown stevia powder is not as sweet as store bought stevia (300 times sweeter than sugar). To cook with home grown stevia simply replace every 1 cup of sugar with 3-4 teaspoons of homegrown stevia.
- To make liquid stevia, dissolve 1/4 cup pure homegrown stevia powder with 1 cup hot filtered water. Stir and leave out at room temperature for 24 hours. After 24 hours strain the stevia out of the liquid and store the liquid stevia in the refrigerator.
That is it. It tastes amazing and you will never buy store bought stevia again. One plant usually supplies enough stevia to last me a year. Remember, a little goes a long way!! 🙂 So head on out and get yourself a stevia plant and try this for yourself. You won’t be disappointed!
How To Make Your Own Pure Stevia & Liquid Stevia ~ Part 2
Ingredients
- Leaves from a stevia plant
- 1/4 cup pure homegrown stevia
- 1 cup hot filtered water
Instructions
- Harvest your stevia plant by cutting off the branches at the base of the plant.
- Wash the branches/leaves in clean filter water.
- Pick leaves off stevia plant, discard the stems, and dry the leaves for 12 hours in the sun.
- Once your leaves are dry, grind them in a food processor or coffee grinder to make pure stevia. I find that a coffee grinder makes for the finest powder and works very nicely.
- Note ~ homegrown stevia powder is not as sweet as store bought stevia (300 times sweeter than sugar). To cook with home grown stevia simply replace every 1 cup of sugar with 3-4 teaspoons of homegrown stevia.
- To make liquid stevia, dissolve 1/4 cup pure homegrown stevia powder with 1 cup hot filtered water. Stir and leave out at room temperature for 24 hours. After 24 hours strain the stevia out of the liquid and store the liquid stevia in the refrigerator.
Share Your Thoughts
Have you grown your own stevia?
What are some of your favorite ways to use stevia?
Hi!! Is powder Stevia good for drinking with coffee or is the flavor to strong? Please let me know what you think! Thank you for the video!
★★★★★
Do you have a recipe for the new honey stevia nectar?
★★★★★
I do not, sounds interesting!
I am on the keto diet and was searching how to make the drops out of the granulated stevia I have and came across this. I noticed it mentioned 1 cup of regular sugar here? I thought Stevia was naturally sweeter than sugar, then why is sugar being used? sorry, maybe i didnt read this correctly but, Im trying to eliminate sugar all together, am I missing something here? why not just use sugar then?
You must of misread the recipe, there is no added sugar…just stevia.
Nice article.
Stevia germinates well in humid climate.
I used a ‘closed clear plastic fruit tub with holes’ to germinate them and in a week many of them germinated.
Humidity box>>a closed clear plastic fruit tub with holes.
Tropical fruits / Vegetable seeds germinates very well in the above setup.
Regards
Hello, for the liquid stevia (dried leaves and water)….do you not have to worry about cooking the mixture after the 24 hours of seeping and after straining the leaves? I read other sites and they said that after that, you need to cook down to make a syrup? I tried that method and only ended up w/ like 1/4 cup of dark, thin syrup so I’d much prefer your method so I won’t lose so much of the liquid. Thanks!
Very useful and lifeline for sugar patient
★★★★★
Can you dry them In the oven?
Very goid
★★★★★
How do they whiten stevia? I would like to crystylize my own.
Can I use a dehydrator vs. drying the leaves in the sun?
just made mine today in a coffee grinder it has a very distinct earthy flavor along with the intense sweetness is there a way to fix this?
★★★★
I have read so many content concerning the blogger lovers except this paragraph is genuinely a
nice post, keep it up.
★★★★★