Stevia

[cat lover]

I recently bought some green stevia powder and want to mix it into a liquid form. I have found about mixing it with alcohol and let it sitting for 24 hours and then filtering out the powder. Has anyone else bought the green powder and done this or any other way?

Also am looking for some recipes using stevia in place of sugar; anyone tried any particular ones? I understand the amount may vary depending on the stevia you actually have at the moment.

Anyone have any other info on stevia. I only know about it what I have found on the internent so far. Any help?

[DeBora4BobbyL]

I use Stevia all the time. I don't do a lot of baking so I am not sure how it holds up, but I have heard from friends that you can cook with it.

I have both the liquid and powder Stevia. I have never mixed the powder in with a liquid.

[cat lover]

The place I bought the green powder had a formula for making it into a liquid sweetener, but when I got home they hadn't written it down and I just assumed they would have that on the package of it they prepared. It was something like 1 tbsp or 1 tbsp to maybe 1 cup of water, I'm just not sure. The store was in Louisville and when I called I got their answering machine and they don't call back evidentally.

I've been doing quite a bit of research online on it and of course those directions haven't "popped" out yet! LOL

How and in what amounts do you use yours? Do you just use it to sweeten drinks with?

[DeBora4BobbyL]

I sweeten my coffee and such with it. You can go to Stevia.com (http://www.stevia.com/) and get recipes to try. I believe they have equivalencies and such too. I just LOVE the stuff! I have to be careful which brands I buy though. One brand, that was purple, made my blood sugar go our of whack. So, I check the ingredients and it had an added "fiber" that actually was a form of sugar. I noticed that it was much sweeter than regular Stevia. I think the brand was NuStevia.

[cat lover]

Thanks for the info! Mine is green powder which is supposed to be just the leaves ground. I don't know the brand as I bought it at a bulk food only store and they don't mark brands or any other information on any of their foods. I'll check out the site you gave, thanks again!

[DeBora4BobbyL]

Cat, if it is powder, I would bet anything that there is something mixed with it and it isn't pure Stevia. I was told that the only way that you can get the pure Stevia extract is from the liquid. All the powder forms that I have have something else mixed with it. For example, NuStevia has Maltodextrin mixed in with it. I want to say 20%, but don't quote me. That is a carbohydrate. It makes my blood sugar go haywire. So, I use other brands. So, be sure to read the ingredients because they may have something besides JUST Stevia.

[cat lover]

The green stevia powder I got is supposed to be dried stevia leaf which has been finely ground.Says it works best with beverages in this form. It also says in this form it presents a challenge for use in recipes with it's green color and licorice like taste.It says you can also make it yourself by grinding dried leaves in a blender or coffee grinder with metal blades. And using home grown stevia this way. So it isn't supposed to be anything but the leaves ground; hope so! Now I'm on a search for seeds or something to try and grow my own! That is if I like it after I use it. I've seen packets in the stores and the liquid supplements.

Thanks for your information and post anything else you think of!