stevia--natural, healthy sweetener

[Laura Wick]

Is anyone using stevia as a sweetener or cooking with it? I have just recently found out about it and would like to know what others' experiences have been, where they purchase it, etc.

TIA

[MrsReber]

Laura, I looked into this a while ago as my SIL gave me a stevia plant and I really didn't know what to do with it! Turns out that it was banned in the US for a while - it was supposedly some sort of plot by the artificial sweetener people who feared a natural product. Anyway, my plant died in the fall, but I did dry the leaves. I chewed on the leaves of my plant and it was amazing how sweet it was! It's something like 400 times as powerful as sugar. I wasn't sure how to cook with it since you'd only need a tiny amount instead of, say, 1/4 cup of sugar. Most of the information I found was on line, though. I found a website with information on stevia and they even responded to my question on how to use the plant. I think you can buy it on line, but it seemed expensive. However, you only need a tiny amount. The Japanese have been using stevia for a long time. I believe I read that they cannot use artificial sweeteners in Japan. I don't know how true that is.