Or you can grow your own. Though I haven't converted any to powdered form yet.

 

Stevia isn't instantly sweet for me...it takes a little while to take effect!

 

My wife cooks with stevia,powder all,the time and it works great. I am also a diabetic and have been familiar with stevia for several years now.

 

I don't know why but I have an adverse (slightly allergic) reaction to stevia. As such, I will not be storing any of it. I don't know if the reaction I have is at all common (probably not) but always try anything you are planning to store beforehand.

 

I grew Stevia for a while, and while the leaves are very sweet, I did not figure out how to reduce it to a powder to be used as a general sweetner.

We would put fresh leaves in tea and other uncooked foods as a sweetner - but at the end of the day we could not make a general sweetner.

The best we could ever do was dry the stevia leaves.

 

Good to know.

 

I've only tried Stevia from one source and it had a bit of a chlorophyll taste; a slight hint of 'fresh cut grass' if you will. Is that common for Stevia sweeteners?

I plan to use it in a batch of home made toothpaste so the taste wont matter as it will be masked by the wintergreen.

 

I can't stand the taste of artificial sweeteners like sucralose and aspartame (same thing?) so for me, stevia is one of the best things to come along in years. It does seem to have some sort of slight aftertaste, but I've become accustomed to it, whereas I could never get used to the artificial sweeteners. I never had an issue with saccharin, but once Nutrasweet started showing up in everything, I was back to sugar or corn syrup.

I'll have to try it in tea and Kool-aid, since those are my summer drinks of choice.

 

I grow Stevia, also.
The leaves are best used fresh... I use two to sweeten a pitcher of tea... or stripped from the stems before drying. The first batch I dried, I left them on the stems. It gave the leaves a fishy odor, and was unusable.
The powder is easy to make, really. You strip the leaves from the stem... dry them (I use a screen set up, in a shady part of the barn, with open airflow)... and grind them into a powder.
The best strain I have found is "Crazy Sweet," through Richter's herbs.

 

Last week I began to think about keeping stevia instead of sugar because occupies less space and sweetens almost the same. Seems a good alternative and the flavor is very similar to the sugar, although equal a strange liking leaves me that in case of SHTF would not have the smaller importance.

Thanks for the thread.

 

Like Inazone said, I can't stand the taste artificial sweeteners leave in my mouth either. But I'll give this a try. Thanks for the thread.

 

For some people Stevia does have a little aftertaste but for most it does not. I like the powder from KAL. I do carry a few packets of Stevia In The Raw with me when I go out to eat and they are also making a blend for baking now.

 

I reduced my dependence/ addiction to sugars/ sweets by drinking only water and black coffee. I figure there is enough sugars in the S.A.D. (Standard American Diet) to keep me going. Two hundred years ago, people did not consume the vast quantities of sugars we do today. They did alright.TP

 

I am used Stevia powder in place of sugar from last one year. It is really great.

 

I wish I could use Stevia but it makes me have stomach cramps to the point i'm doubled over.

I can handle Equal a little better but the aftertaste gets me. I wish I could find a sugar substitute but so far havnt had any luck.

 

Finding pure stevia can be a problem. It's so concentrated that even much of the stuff sold as pure isn't.

I got a coupe differnet ones from Amazon.
One being this one;
Spoonable 16oz Stevia: Amazon.com: Grocery & Gourmet Food

Stevia Rebaudiana Bertoni extract (leaves), and Erythritol (a natural filler derived from corn, also found in melons, pears etc.)

The other this one;
Amazon.com: Pure Stevia Extract Powder by Kal - 3.5 oz: Health & Personal Care

 

I really like Stevia and we use PureVia in the packets on a day to day basis at home because my mom is diabetic and likes everything sweet. Not a good mixture!

I also grew stevia for a couple of years at home. Very easy to grow, and it grew back by itself the second year from the same roots (which isn't what it is supposed to do). Very easy to harvest and dry out but it does have a greener taste when dehydrated and ground. Also, doesn't dissolve when in tiny particles of leaf so a bit off-putting to some people.

Love Stevia...great stuff!