Hi! I replied to your questions this morning, but it seems my message never got posted. Go to www.richters.com. They put out a fantastic herb catalog, sell stevia and in their 2008 catalog offer two books on stevia. I'm guessing one would dry the leaves and crush them to use them, just like many other herbs. Let us know what you learn. cora

Stevia is easy to grow. It needs regular pruning for a quality harvest (pick new growth) and so the plant doesn't flop over. Also prune to prevent excessive flowering and seed-drop (they can be prolific).
It likes regular water, full sun, and needs protection from frost.

As a sugar substitute, the leaves can be dried and powdered. Although it does have a slight flavor of its own, it isn't a bad thing and goes well with tea, coffee, or whatever. The stuff is ridiculously sweet. Plucking off one leaf and tasting it will numb your tongue with sweetness. (it does mine anyways...)

I agree with corar, look at Richter's, they have lots of info on Stevia.

I picked up a stevia plant at Target last year-- you may even want to check there! I found that the stevia I bought had sort of a Nutrasweet taste to it, but I understand that there are many varieties out there. Musicman, is there a variety that you'd recommend?

Jane

thanks! I googled and found all sort of warnings against stevia. Is it safe?

floridajane,
There is. Check out the link below. Richter's has one variety that is supposed to be the purest kind of sweet possible.

wert9wert,
What kind of warnings? I've never heard of any dangers associated with Stevia.

Here is a link that might be useful: crazy sweet stevia

So far the Food and Drug Administration has banned it's use as a food additive, but it can be sold as a dietary supplement.
I did a search on dangers of stevia, and checked a lot of sites. I didn't find anything proving any dangers.
In fact there were more references to the dangers of aspartame, saccharine, refined sugar cane, etc.

And here's an interesting tidbit I stumbled across in my search...

"As for the future of Stevia, Coca Cola plans to market stevia under the trade name of Rebiana and is currently patent-pending. This calorie-free food and beverage sweetener is also being marketed under the Cargill corporation, a food and agricultural provider. Likewise, both these companies hope that Rebiana will gain FDA approval as a food additive, and be widely marketed in the United States by 2009."

Hi
Recently found some of this in the herb section of Walmart lol. I'm diabetic so passed it up . I found the leaves pleasant but not super sweet as described ..Maybe too many others have been chewing on the leaves?? lol gary

Hey Gary, I thought stevia was a good alternative to sugar for diabetics. From what I read there are a few different varieties of stevia.

Stevis is an easy plant to grow, but the Crazy Sweet stevia might not make it. Even Richter's has trougle growing it over winter. bought one, brought it down, it lasted another week. As soon as it gets colder, this variety might only survive with a heating mat and additional lighting.
But it tastes much better than the others.
culejools@yahoo.ca