How to Dry Stevia and Make Your Own Sweetener
The herb Stevia is a natural sweetener, many times sweeter than sugar. The benefits of Stevia are, you can grow your own Stevia plants, it has zero calories and it is much less expensive to grown and dry your own Stevia leaves than to buy an expensive alternative. You can also make your own Stevia powder to sweeten drinks and sprinkle on fruit or whatever else you choose. Does this Spark an idea?
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Instructions
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Snip off leaves from the Stevia plant. Harvesting Stevia leaves can be done at any point during the growing season, year round if you are growing it indoors or if you live in a warm climate. Do not use any Stevia leaves that have been chemically treated with insecticides, pesticides or chemical fertilizers.
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Place Stevia leaves in a large colander in your sink.
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Rinse the Stevia leaves under cold water.
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Lay the Stevia leaves in a single layer on paper towels. Pat the leaves dry with another paper towel.
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Lay out another layer of paper towels on a cookie sheet. Transfer the Stevia leaves to the dry paper towels.
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Place them in a warm dry area.
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Allow the Stevia leaves to become dry, crispy and crumble to the touch.
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Run the Stevia through a spice mill to crush into Stevia powder. You can also use the back of a spoon in a bowl or crush with mortar and pestal.
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Tips & Warnings
Store powdered Stevia leaves in a glass jar with a lid in a cool, dry place.
2 to 3 teaspoonfuls of powdered Stevia equal 1 cup of granulated sugar.
Resources
- Photo Credit http://commons.wikimedia.org
