Yes! And I am growing it in the little 4 shelf greenhouse in my family room east-facing french doors! It is Stevia. I have talked to several people about this wonder plant and many have never heard of it!
Stevia is a plant that grows in warmer climates than Iowa. It sure won't survive our winters! It is not commonly found locally either. You can buy Stevia extract from some of the healthfood stores but I have yet to find a Stevia plant for sale like I find Basil in pots everywhere.
Stevia has sweet leaves! More concentrated sweetener than sugar, a little goes a long ways! I ordered some seeds and a book about Stevia from a mail order company based in Missouri that deals only in Stevia plants. I had to read the book carefully to find out the best way to grow it so that one day soon I can use it in our kitchen. Since then I befriended a gal who work at Earl May named Kim. She kept my number and when our local Earl May happened to receive just 5 seed packets of Stevia a week or so ago, Kim called me and I bought another packet of seeds.
Keep in mind that I only ordered 20 seeds. They are not really cheap... they are very teeny weeny too so you don't want to exhale when planting them! The first 9 that I planted did not grow. I did not keep them moist enough. Epic FAIL. But I had over 1/2 of the seeds left so I read the book again and tried again. I waited the 14 days for germination to occur and one day I saw this:
WOOHOO!! I was so excited! They were growing! I turned on the little shoplight I hung a few inches above them and kept them moist. They have to be watered from below. If the little plants themselves get wet, they will die. So I keep water in the tray under them and keep a close eye on them. Then a few weeks later they looked like this:
When the Stevia plants get big enough, the light above them can go off at night. Soon after, they can be transplanted to bigger pots to continue to grow. Once they have a few more leaves, I can harvest some of them to use so that the plants continue to grow bushier and thrive. While Stevia plants are hard to start from seed, you see it can be done. They are easier to grow from propagation. For those of you who are not gardeners, that is taking a "stem" of one of the plants and putting it in some growing medium to let it take root and start a new plant.
When the leaves are trimmed, they will be dehydrated and crushed very small. Here is the great news: 1 - 3 TEASPOONS of crushed Stevia equals a cup of sugar in recipes. A little goes a long way! So sometime soon this winter, I may have Stevia plants to sell to those interested but I will CERTAINLY be using them in my own baking to take the place of some of the honey and agave I have been using! Watch for more information as these little plants continue to thrive!
If you ever have any comments about anything I am writing, I would love for you to comment below the blog. And if you have any questions, feel free to email me .. my email address is at the bottom of the About Me section to the right of the blogs. I would love to hear from you!
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