Growing Stevia at Home

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I’ve struggled with a brown thumb.  My little herb garden—trenched out along my front porch and consistently watered by seasonal rains—has been my most successful gardening venture, and it’s also been the most rewarding.  I love using fresh herbs in recipes (fresh basil pesto is absolutely divine!), and I love having fresh mint on hand for herbal tea.  But one of my favorite herbs is actually used as a sweetener—stevia.

Today, I'm going to share with you all you need to know to grow stevia at home.

Stevia is a tropical plant native to South America.  Most of the stevia sold commercially has been processed and powdered so that consumers can easily add it to drinks or baked goods like they would sugar.  According to WebMD, “Stevia is about 200 to 400 times sweeter than table sugar and is a non-nutritive sweetener, which means it has no carbohydrates, calories, or artificial ingredients,” making it ideal for diabetics or others trying to cut their sugar intake.  Because it’s so much sweeter than sugar, people can use less of it to achieve the same level of sweetness.  But in order for stevia powder to measure cup to cup with sugar, something else needs to be added to it to increase the volume while cutting down the sweetness.

Using stevia straight from the leaf—fresh from the garden instead of heavily processed powder—isn’t something that most people think to do.  Once I had the opportunity to do just that, I took it.  And I absolutely love it.

So what about you?  Would you consider growing stevia in your garden?  And if so, how do you get started?

Growing Stevia

According to Britannica, “Germination from seed is difficult, and most plants are grown from cuttings.”  In my personal experience, this is absolutely true.  I found growing stevia from seed to be a frustrating and fruitless venture.  But when came across a little plant available to buy, I snapped it up.  Based on this experience, I recommend searching for a seedling or a cutting in local garden stores or ordering one online; save yourself the time, money, and frustration, and don’t bother buying seeds.

Britannica also explains that stevia “requires rich well-drained soil and thrives in warm humid climates.”  I’m lucky enough to live in a tropical climate where I can leave my stevia outdoors year-round.  If you don’t happen to live in a warm, humid climate, you could easily grow stevia in a pot to bring indoors during the cooler months.  I placed drainage rocks at the bottom of the pot and used cheap potting soil to transplant my little stevia.  It’s doubled in size since then and even bloomed, producing delicate white flowers. 

It should be noted, though, that Britannica recommends removing the flower, as the energy the plant uses to produce the flowers decreases its ability to develop its signature sweetness in the leaves.

Harvesting Stevia

Stevia should be harvested like any other herb.  Pinch off the leaves you’ll use (or dry for future use) and wash them well.  Never take more than a third of the leaves per harvest, and give the plant plenty of time to recover before harvesting again. 

Using Stevia

One of the ways I use it in herbal teas is by letting it dry along with my excess mint leaves.  I’ve got peppermint, sweet mint, and bee balm growing in my garden, so I like to combine the mint varieties and stevia leaf in my mint tea blend.  Once all the leaves are dry, I crumble them together and store the mixture in a zipping bag.  When I’m ready to make tea, the blend is already sweetened by the addition of stevia leaves. 

Another way I use it is by letting it steep along with prepackaged teas.  I toss the washed and torn leaves into the hot water with the tea bags and allow the stevia leaves to impart their sweetness before fishing them out.  I do the same thing with my coffee. Since I use a French press for my morning pick-me-up, I add stevia leaves to my coffee grounds and allow them to steep together before I press and pour the brew. 

Some stevia growers make their own stevia extract by allowing chopped leaves to steep overnight or over several days.  Others make a more concentrated extract by simmering the leaves for several hours or until a highly sweet liquid remains.  Personally, I haven’t tried making extract or concentrate, but if that’s something you’re interested in, let me know it the comments—I’ll consider trying it out and letting y’all know how it goes.

What do you think?  Is stevia something you’d consider growing in your garden?  Are there other ways you would use fresh stevia leaves?  Let me know in the comments!