{"id":2739,"date":"2008-08-09T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-09T11:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/growing-stevia.html"},"modified":"2016-08-12T13:40:38","modified_gmt":"2016-08-12T13:40:38","slug":"growing-stevia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2739","title":{"rendered":"Growing Stevia"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I can’t wait to grow this. Andrew Weil pointed out that he grows this naturally occurring herb on his ranch. A place called directgardening.com sells them on the internet.<\/p>\n

And actually, I’ve read that Stevia will grow in almost any climate, if it is given good soil, fertilizer, and light conditions. It is sensitive to frost, so if it’s outside you have to plant it each year. It likes full sun and in a light, sandy, open, well drained soil. This must be why it grows well for Dr. Weil out in Tucson.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

But for you and me out here in the chilly north east rust belt, we should plant it in a planter and keep it inside, again, near a window where it can get full sun. You don’t have to futz with it too much, just use a standard garden fertilized.<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

You can get the Stevia rebaudiana <\/em>seed, but they don’t germinate well. Best to purchase the plant. This, although I’m sure will get easier over time, is not now easy. A quick google search will help you out, but I had a hard time tracking down the local Pittsburgh Stevia Emporium. <\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
That said, once you plant your plant, the Stevia leaves should be harvested in the fall, normallyl early in the morning and then just dried in the full sun. When crispy dry, store in a plastic bag. Break the leaf with your hands or put them a blender to make powder. <\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

I’m not going to use the stuff, although it will be fun to grow the plant and taste the leaves. <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I can’t wait to grow this. Andrew Weil pointed out that he grows this naturally occurring herb on his ranch. A place called directgardening.com sells them on the internet. And … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2739","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Qv5g-Ib","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1933,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=1933","url_meta":{"origin":2739,"position":0},"title":"Stevia and The Tooth","author":"Will Clower","date":"October 17, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Stevia comes from a South American plant (Stevia rebaudiana) that happens to be very very sweet, but doesn't contain calories or nutritive value. It's like a natural form of the synthetic versions found in the wedding mint colored packets (powder blue, sunshine yellow, and It's-A-Girl pink) in any coffee shop\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"stevia plant","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.huffpost.com\/gen\/2166848\/thumbs\/o-STEVIA-PLANT-570.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2740,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2740","url_meta":{"origin":2739,"position":1},"title":"Stevia History","author":"Will Clower","date":"August 8, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"For centuries, the Guaran\u00ed tribes of Paraguay and Brazil used a plant tthey called ka'a he'\u00ea (\"sweet herb\"), to sweeten medicinal teas for treating heartburn and other ailments. The leaves of the stevia plant have 30\u201345 times the sweetness of sucrose (ordinary table sugar).To prepare it in the traditional way,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"stevia\"","block_context":{"text":"stevia","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?tag=stevia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2738,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2738","url_meta":{"origin":2739,"position":2},"title":"Stevia Science","author":"Will Clower","date":"August 10, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Get ready for controversy. The FDA has blocked Stevia. Advocates cry foul, saying they are held to an unrealistic standard, given that this plant has been used indiginously for centuries. It's a plant. But the FDA cites 1968 research conducted by Joseph Kuc, that showed a contraceptive effect on female\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"stevia\"","block_context":{"text":"stevia","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?tag=stevia"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2530,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2530","url_meta":{"origin":2739,"position":3},"title":"Stevia the Holy Grail of Sweeteners?","author":"Will Clower","date":"July 28, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Yes, Stevia is derived from a plant, but so was ephedra (ma huang) -- which contributed to heart valve problems.Yes it is GRAS (generally recognized as safe), but so is Aspartame. This article comes from a very food industry perspective. And, for them, Stevia may really be the Holy Grail\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2741,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=2741","url_meta":{"origin":2739,"position":4},"title":"On Your Mark, Get Set, Stevia!","author":"Will Clower","date":"August 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Here it comes, the next new thing. Stevia has been locked out of the U.S. sweetener market but, perhaps in a battle of the titans, the soda industry has opened a path for its entry.Over the next few days, I'll be highlighting the science, nutritional and political, behind the new\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"artificial sweetener\"","block_context":{"text":"artificial sweetener","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?tag=artificial-sweetener"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1988,"url":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?p=1988","url_meta":{"origin":2739,"position":5},"title":"Which Sugars Are Best? Just remember the 3 rules …","author":"Will Clower","date":"August 6, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I was on KDKA-TV this morning talking about all the sweeteners out there -- there are tons of them!!Here is the link for the video:\u00a0Real and Artificial Sweeteners - YouTubeFirst we moved through the artificial ones ... the synthetics that are between 100 -- 200 TIMES as sweet as sugar.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Articles"","block_context":{"text":"Articles","link":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/?cat=494"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.willclower.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/ArtificialSweeteners.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2739"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3734,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2739\/revisions\/3734"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2739"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2739"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mymedwellness.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2739"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}