Stevia Products Used in the Recipes

If you can’t find what you want, ask your local natural food store to order it for you. There are multiple wholesale sources for these forms of stevia. Hopefully grocery stores will soon begin to stock them as well.

I recommend using the Dried Stevia Leaves (for tea) or Green Stevia Powder whenever possible, just as I would recommend whole wheat over white flour. These forms provide the full range of nutrients found in stevia plants. For recipes that do not work well with Green Stevia Powder, however, I feel that Stevia Extract Powder is certainly preferable to sugar or artificial sweeteners. Liquid extracts of stevia are available, but we prefer the powders. Following is an overview of the stevia forms used in this book.

Dried Stevia Leaves
These whole, dried leaves of the stevia plant contain 8-12% sweet glycosides and work well for tea. You can purchase leaves or harvest from homegrown stevia plants. Simply pick the leaves before blossoming and dry on screens or in a food dehydrator on low heat.

Green Stevia Powder
We list this as an option in recipes that lend themselves to its use. In other recipes, this form doesn’t work as well. It is a fine, green powder made from dried leaves and green stems of the Stevia plant. No other processing is done. Green Stevia Powder will impart varying shades of green to some recipes, depending on the amount used. This is the least refined product you can use in non-beverage recipes.

Stevia Extract Powder, 85-95% Sweet Glycosides
This is the primary stevia product used in the recipes. Sweet glycosides are extracted through one of several processes, usually water or ethyl alcohol based. The resulting fine, fluffy powder is 200-250 times sweeter than cane sugar and usually off-white. Any extract with glycosides in the range of 85-95% will work in our recipes, and this is the most common type on the market. If you should happen to find a product with a lower glycoside proportion, adjust the amount used accordingly.

I consider any stevia extract far superior to artificial sweeteners or sugar, but I do recommend using one that has not been artificially “bleached.” Unfortunately, it is not always easy to determine if a given product contains bleach.

Cooking Tips

Stevia cannot simply be inserted where a recipe says “sugar.” Several factors must be considered. Study the following information and you will be prepared to use this sweet herb in your cooking. The guidelines assume that stevia is replacing sugar.

Flavor Enhancement
Green Stevia Powder can enhance flavors in some dishes when used in small amounts, while it may not work at all in others. Our recipes are carefully designed to take advantage of this and other aspects of stevia.

Amount of Stevia
By volume, much less stevia than sugar is required. For sweetening purposes, approximately one teaspoon Stevia Extract Powder or three to four teaspoons Green Stevia Powder is used instead of one cup of sugar.