Monday, August 1, 2011

Stevia in my Coffee


K, you can accuse me of heaping tablespoons of powdered chemicals in my coffee with the addition of non-dairy creamer but you can't claim that I don't try and go with alternative sweetening methods by growing & using Stevia.
This plant is actually a child of the original which I bought over 7 years ago @ a big box home improvement store for around $5. Since then I've divided & repotted  each either for gift giving or even as a barter opp.

Here is the most current generation thriving in a container on the patio. I'll bump it up to a larger pot before Autumn and let it grow as a house plant over the Winter.
I want to make an effort to grow larger quantities of Stevia leaves to dry & grind into a powder for cooking & baking. Probably won't be able to grow enough Stevia to cover all of my needs but I do hope to be able to replace a fair portion of the Splenda that we now use do to our diabetes.
Icing on the cake is of course that I can grow Stevia virtually for free.
Splenda not @ all.

Besides floating Stevia leaves in my morning coffee I also use it in my Green Ice Tea along with a sprig of mint from a large patch the grows under the clothes in the garden.
Gently bruise the leaves thoroughly before adding to drinks.
Give the leaves a moment to seep before drinking.
Removal depends on how adept you are at not swallowing leaves.
With or without the help of caffeine


~~ pelenaka ~~

2 comments:

  1. I'm growing some stevia too, I find the leaf taste a little distracting, so I'm considering brewing up an extract.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lol, no floaties 4 u huh.

    Pls. post on making an extract I'm interested.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks, good to know there are other's with this interest