Stevia Extract

Now that my 6 weeks postpartum period is ending I am realizing that I have to start doing some things that I have been putting off. I actually really love the first 6 weeks after having a baby. It is one of the only times where I give myself permission to take life easy, put things on hold and enjoy meeting my new family member. About this time after having my babies I usually start doing a structured workout, more cooking and saving those freezer meals for the crammed days were I really can't handle one more thing.

One of those "things" I have not been keeping up with is my herb garden. Right now watering plants is the last on my list of things to do and it often just doesn't happen. Because to be honest I am still adjusting to having three children, three and under, in our home. This week I also started to cloth diaper Eliora too, so now between potty training Boaz and changing the two in cloth, I feel like if I make meals the day is a success!

We are working on getting into a good routine so we can get back to doing more educational/fun things. Right now that includes how to harvest and make stevia extract! Not the usual preschool activity, but it can be fun and educational all the same.

So we all went out to harvest my stevia plant before it shrived up and died like my poor basil did :(  Anyway we picked all of the leaves off the plant and gave them a good rinse, because I found out the flies like this plant too and we wouldn't want that in our extract!

Next we put them in the dehydrator overnight at 95 degrees to crisp them up. You could sun dry them instead if you don't have a dehydrator. Mine were almost dried when I took them off. See benefits of not watering, I save on electricity!

Now I just cram them into a quart jar, lightly crushing them down till it is full. Cover the crushed leaves with vodka and let it set for 24-36 hours on the counter.

Strain out the leaves from the vodka and bottle or if you don't want the alcohol in it you can put the liquid in a sauce pan and cook off the alcohol. DO NOT BOIL IT! That will make the extract bitter/less sweet. Cook it for 15-30 min on low. Then store in a dark glass container in the refrigerator for future use.

You can also grind the dried leaves into a powder and use it for quick breads, coffee, tea or smoothies where the green color will not make it look unappetizing.

My mother makes a wonderful iced tea using the whole dried leaf. It is the perfect touch of sweet in my opinion.

• Set one gallon of water in a pot to boil with 3-4 tea bags and enough dried whole stevia leaves to cover the top of the water. 
• Bring the water to the point right before it boils but do not boil the tea bags. 
• Turn the heat off, remove the tea bags and cover. 
• Let it set till the tea has cooled on the stove top then strain off the stevia leaves and cool in the refrigerator.

We like using stevia to sweeten up things in the kitchen without adding empty calories or feeding bacterial yeast over growth in the body. It is fun and rewarding to harvest your own "sugar" in your back yard!
                                                                The Farmer in the Dell