hi cat's cradle here over a month ago I
made a video showing you some of the
produce from my garden and in the center
of my table I had a pitcher that was
filled with something that I didn't
mention and you didn't ask about and I'm
just now getting around to being able to
talk about it as I get the pictures
assembled for this video this is stevia
I've grown this year and you've probably
heard about it recently because it's all
the rage it's much sweeter than sugar
and it does not have a glycemic load
like sugar though so it's very intensely
sweet and I've given you a picture at
several different angles here so you can
get a good look of how it looks there
long stalks long sturdy stalks and here
I've plucked most of the leaves off and
put have washed them and put them on my
dehydrator and got them ready to dry
here's another shot so you can just see
what the stems look like and then here's
how it looks after it's come out of the
dehydrator and it's crispy crunchy dry I
store it just like this in a canning jar
and when I'm ready to use it I can just
take it out in and use whatever I want I
don't like the idea of grinding it up I
like to just crunch it as I need it I
like red zinger tea it's made by
celestial Seasonings it was a
proprietary blend that they made in the
back in the 1970s and there are
indications that it can help to lower
your blood pressure and lower
cholesterol some of the ingredients or
the biggest part of it is Chinese
hibiscus there's also a cherry Bart
peppermint West Indian lemongrass orange
peel lemon myrtle and licorice and it is
good it's nice and tart and
it has a very robust flavor I like it so
much that I order it by the case this
case comes with six boxes of the
celestial seasoning red zinger tea in it
again it is an herbal tea when you open
up one of the boxes it looks like this
it's got double packets and so always
just tear them apart they come apart
very easily and so I put I use one
packet in a cup of tea so I get my water
boiling and then drop my teabag in and
right after that I open up my this
little tea ball that I have and I don't
use it for my tea but I use that to
crush up my stevia and I get it kind of
fine not into a powder but just get to
where the leaves are all broken up and
then I go ahead and drop that into my
cup of tea and you can see that the tea
is already an intense red color and so
in goes the ball with the stevia in it
and I put my saucer on top of the tea
cup and just let it steep probably for
about maybe 10 minutes or so and then
I'm ready for a nice warm cup of tea
that has been sweetened naturally by my
stevia and it is really nice to have on
a cold winter day and I probably don't
need drink enough of it to do much for
my blood pressure or cholesterol which
neither want either one or very bad but
I would like a little a little help with
if I get it
there are some indications that if you
drink about three cups of it a day that
it will lower your blood pressure by
about 10 numbers on a camera what they
call it anyway that's how I use my
stevia it's a very easy plant to grow
I've had no trouble growing it this year
and it's been very prolific and now it's
most of its dried I'm going to harvest
the rest of it before first frost get it
dried and put it in a jar and be able to
use it in my hibiscus tea
through the winter anyway I hope this
gives you some information that will be
helpful to you I don't intend on
grinding it up into a powder and
substituting it for sugar I store sugar
for that and just don't think I'd be
real fond of the little green flecks
floating around in my muffins or
whatever but it's perfect for herbal tea
so hope this helps until next time catch
cradle