Amazing Sweet Leaf Herb - 100% Natural & Healthy Zero Calorie Sweetener

It’s a conundrum when you really want to be healthy, but you really love sweets. 

For many years I used artificial sweeteners and always knew they weren’t good for me. Then recently I started using stevia instead, hoping that being plant-derived, it was healthier. But I knew the sweet white powder was still very processed and far removed from the stevia plant. So I thought, “what if I just use the actual stevia, aka sweet leaf, that I grow myself?”

Here’s what I learned…

A place or pot to plant into

Sweet leaf/stevia plants

Heat safe jar with lid

Pestle or spoon

Water

Strainer - optional

An only barely green thumb :-)

First, stevia and sweet leaf are the same plant. The nurseries near me sell the herb as sweet leaf. I bought 5 plants (3-4” pots) from 2 different nurseries. Some plants had smaller leaves. They all tasted pretty much the same.

Stevia is an annual, so I wanted fairly mature plants to ensure I'd get enough leaves during the growing season. I bought them May/June. Maybe next year I'll try seeds that I start early.

These were super easy to grow. I already had 2 container herb "gardens" on my porch. I literally just hardened the plants to my porch for a few days (Leave them in their pots where you'll plant them.) and squished them in next to the other plants in my planters. The stevia needed more water than my other herbs so I always watered at their roots and didn't worry about the rest of the pot. These pots contain regular potting soil with good drainage. One is in full sun all day and one is in full sun just a few hours. Both did well.

The sweet leaf always let me know when it was time to water by getting a little droopy on top. It always popped right back after water. Temps ranged between the 50s at night and over 110 during the day. All was good.

Well, I didn't really wait long to start harvesting leaves and experimenting. The top newer leaves were the best for using as sweetener. (You can find recipes for meals using the larger leaves, if you want, but I didn't - yet.) I just pinched the whole top few leaves and stem off at the intersection of a lower leaf pair. New leaves will sprout from this spot.

I took leaves as needed and let the rest grow back.

Rinse the leaves. Dry if you want, but not necessary.

At this point you can literally bruise some leaves or a sprig, and throw them into a drink to sweeten it. Or make an infusion to use as needed. More on this in the next steps.

If you're just tossing sprigs in a drink, here are a few tips:

• warm liquids works better
• one leaf won't really do much - test out the strength you want starting with a few leaves or sprigs and go from there
• this method is not instant. Like mint, the longer the leaves sit in the liquid the sweeter it will get
• note that the sweet leaf has some mild herby flavor and tastes better with some beverages than with others
• bruising the leaves helps release the sweet

The idea here is to make a strong sweet leaf infusion to sweeten things as needed without waiting. It's almost a syrup, but isn't thick. It keeps in a jar in the refrigerator at least a week or two.

I used about 1/2 cup of sprigs to make about 1 cup of sweetener. You can change the concentration to suit what you'll use it for. This concentration worked great for my iced tea addiction :-)

Gently bruise the stevia leaves with a pestle or the back of a spoon. I wanted to release the sweet without pulverizing the leaves so they could be strained. I did this directly in the heat-safe (cleaned mayo) jar I'd be storing my infusion in, so I wouldn't lose any of the plant oils to a mortar.

While you're mushing the leaves, boil at least a cup of water. Pour the boiled water over the bruised leaves. Some sources said use warm water - I found HOT water worked better.

Stir and let sit. If you must fuss, press the leaves against the sides of your jar.

Option 1: You can let this cool and put it covered, into the refrigerator to use as needed. It will get sweeter the longer the leaves steep.

Optional. (I only did this once. I found no real need to toss the leaves.)

Wait a day. Then strain out the leaves using a fine mesh (tea) strainer. The resulting stevia liquid is ready for use.

I added a lot of detail, but making herbal stevia liquid sweetener is really not much harder than making iced tea.

Tea tip: Like I said, I mostly use it to sweeten tea. I make the tea extra strong and add a tablespoon or two of the sweet leaf. And sometimes a sprig for garnish :-)

You can experiment with proportions and uses to taste. Let me know how it goes!