Many years ago, I tried to grow stevia from seed, but no luck. So, the other day I saw 6" stevia plants at the store and picked one up. Does anyone know how to process the stevia into a sweetener that you can use for cooking?

~ C

No, but years ago when I bought two, I killed them pretty fast. I managed to pull off and chew on a leaf first, which was sweet.

Well, I learn something on this board every day. I never thought of making your own sweetener from a Stevia plant. This site might help you:

https://commonsensehome.com/stevia-plant/

I bought some stevia plants a couple of years ago and set them out. Found out pretty quickly, Bunnies love stevia! Ate them to the ground the first night. Like just a bit crazy, I only got to taste a couple of leaves.
With the bunny population in my neck of the woods, just gave up.

I grew stevia and got some leaves from it before I killed it. You just dry the leaves and blend them up and use them for sweetener. I was planning on making a tea out of the leaves and seeing if a person could use that as a sweetener but killed it before I could try that out.
Lynda

It sounds like no one is having very good luck growing these plants. I'm going to have to do some research online to see how to keep them alive first.

Iwbuchholz...I like the idea of just drying them...easy!

~ C

Thank you for posting the link, I just might find a plant or two so I can make her extract. Lots of good information.

Osewme...thanks for the reference on how to grow and use stevia. Great place to start.

~ C