Stevia isn't artificial, it's a plant, i grow it in my garden, i make my own extract. Maybe you are confusing it with splenda? Sugar promotes disease in the body, raw or not, it's awful for you.
What type of climate are you in? I thought that you needed consistent warm weather to grow stevia. I've got the seeds but held off because of that requirement.
I would describe my climate as slightly warmer than the deepest pits of hell. But you're asking me this at the end of august, after I've spend the last two months doing everything I can to keep all my animals alive. I did lose one chicken to the demonic heat so far. Hopefully the rest will survive. Also growing from seed is really hard. The farmers normally propagate as cuttings. The seeds barely germinate. It's hard. But my roots survive winter so the original plants keep coming back bigger each year which is nice. If you are in a cold climate maybe get a small grow tent and keep it bright at warm indoors?
I laughed at your description of the climate where you live! I'm sorry that you lost an animal to the heat. I will try growing it inside and see what happens. I've never been fond of stevia but maybe growing it myself will result in a different flavor. Praying that you get some relief from the heat.
Most liquid stevia drops on the shelf are gross imo, the flavor can change depending on how you extract it, or if you use fresh or dry leaves to do it, how long you cook off the alcohol, all that stuff. Really the best tasting thing is the leaf itself. Put them in hot water with your tea leaves and it will naturally sweeten tea, it's so good. Really delightful to just chew on the leaf itself too. But yeah it's hot here, we just got out of a really long triple digit stretch that lasted longer than I've ever experienced before, and we actually hit 120 with the heat index last week, it was the hottest day on record for us. Crazy. Hopefully that was the peak of summer, I'm so ready for winter.
Stevia isn't artificial, it's a plant, i grow it in my garden, i make my own extract. Maybe you are confusing it with splenda? Sugar promotes disease in the body, raw or not, it's awful for you.
What type of climate are you in? I thought that you needed consistent warm weather to grow stevia. I've got the seeds but held off because of that requirement.
I would describe my climate as slightly warmer than the deepest pits of hell. But you're asking me this at the end of august, after I've spend the last two months doing everything I can to keep all my animals alive. I did lose one chicken to the demonic heat so far. Hopefully the rest will survive. Also growing from seed is really hard. The farmers normally propagate as cuttings. The seeds barely germinate. It's hard. But my roots survive winter so the original plants keep coming back bigger each year which is nice. If you are in a cold climate maybe get a small grow tent and keep it bright at warm indoors?
I laughed at your description of the climate where you live! I'm sorry that you lost an animal to the heat. I will try growing it inside and see what happens. I've never been fond of stevia but maybe growing it myself will result in a different flavor. Praying that you get some relief from the heat.
Most liquid stevia drops on the shelf are gross imo, the flavor can change depending on how you extract it, or if you use fresh or dry leaves to do it, how long you cook off the alcohol, all that stuff. Really the best tasting thing is the leaf itself. Put them in hot water with your tea leaves and it will naturally sweeten tea, it's so good. Really delightful to just chew on the leaf itself too. But yeah it's hot here, we just got out of a really long triple digit stretch that lasted longer than I've ever experienced before, and we actually hit 120 with the heat index last week, it was the hottest day on record for us. Crazy. Hopefully that was the peak of summer, I'm so ready for winter.