since our episode on how to grow your
own stevia many of you have written in
and ask us for tips on how to make
stevia more usable in more recipes and
how to make it shelf stable so that it
lasts longer in your pantry well I'm
excited to show you a very simple
process you can take to turn your stevia
into an extract that's easy to be used
and is indefinitely shelf stable so stay
with us since our episode when we showed
you how to grow your own stevia and then
process it you might remember that when
it was finished it looked a lot like
this this is how I like it with the full
Leafs
that have been dehydrated and just
barely ground up and I use a tea
diffuser to diffuse it in my coffee and
tea every morning however I am a sweet
holic and I go through a lot of stevia
and so I did what most of us do and that
is I turn to Amazon and ordered some
organic stevia leaf in bulk which is a
great idea to do or you might be able to
find it at your local Whole Foods store
or such but this is what I came up with
this is eight ounces of bulk stevia leaf
you don't want to order the stevia
powder unless that's intentionally what
you're going for but I wanted it to be
as close as what I make myself and that
is the full leaf stevia that's just been
ground up relatively small incidentally
this one came and it was quite a bit
smaller than mine which is bad and good
I'll explain here in a minute then just
as extras you'll want to have a little
strainer with a pretty tight little
strainer weave to it and I like to use
some sort of a little funnel to get it
in there without any problems with it
dripping around so I use my funnel from
canning to make this just a little bit
easier what I want us to do is make
stevia that we can use in a form of
liquid that can be used in a lot of
different recipes and
as well completely shelf-stable for as
long as we can get it to be right so
this is what we're gonna make
incidentally these stevia drops that I
get are about sixteen to eighteen
dollars per bottle now this says on it
that it has 576 servings I use more than
one serving each time I use it so I know
it's not going to last that long for me
but it will ask quite a bit longer
because it's very concentrated and you
only use just a few drops at a time so
let's make our own with a very simple
process I'll talk you through this I
would recommend you making a small batch
first because if you overdo it you can
get it bitter and you want it not bitter
so start just small and then once you
get it just the way you like it go ahead
and make larger batches what I've done
is taking this taken this little
half-pint jar and we can all get those
or you might have one you can recycle
just take that and you're going to fill
it clear full of stevia and then we're
going to take a little bottle of vodka
this is 200 milliliters and it's almost
the perfect amount that you need to fill
up this once you've filled it up with
stevia Leafs then pour it full of vodka
and you're going to set it on the
counter in a dark place for 24 hours if
you like it kind of mild 48 hours at the
most
if you let it go past 48 hours it's
going to start getting even more bubbly
on top and it's going to start getting a
little bitter in taste and you don't
really want that but once it's steeped
this long we're going to just strain it
out and then put it in our own little
bottle for our use when we do it that
way I'll tell you this it will last
indefinitely because the vodka is still
full of alcohol content if you would be
one of those people that would prefer to
have that alcohol completely out of it
and no content still left in it what we
can do is this we take a small saucepan
and remember the amount of liquid we're
getting out of this is minimal but we're
going to go ahead and pour it in the
bottom strain it and pour
in the bottom of the saucepan and we're
going to heat it on low heat just until
it can evaporate all of that alcohol
content out for about 10 minutes on low
and it will get just a smidgen thicker
which is just fine
if you've noticed the stevia leaf drops
that you get are often just a hint
thicker than water anyway so it's just
fine to have it thicker the only thing I
would say is this once the alcohol
content is gone and evaporated and you
go ahead and bottle it up it will need
to be put in your refrigerator and it
will last three to five months that way
so it's not going to be indefinitely
shelf stable considering this think
about it you could make it with the
vodka content right now if you're making
a good batch you could leave that
alcohol in it put it on your shelf and
just label it that before you use this
you might want to process it further and
go ahead and heat it on the stove so
that that content evaporates and then it
will be ready to use later down the road
so you could say make process several
bottles of these at one time put three
of them on the shelf and just use one
now and then have them labeled so that
you can come back and heat them up and
process out that alcohol before you put
those into use if that's what you would
prefer in the future so there you have
it mine turned out a little darker this
time than I expected but that's okay
it's sweet and there is not one bit of
bitterness in it so I am completely
thrilled with my batch I hope you'll
share this video with someone else that
it might help and I hope you'll take the
time to experiment and make some of your
own tell us how it turns out what you
liked or disliked or would add or take
away from this recipe we want to hear
about all of it now will you take the
time to share this video with someone
you love if you haven't subscribed
already go ahead and subscribe and hit
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go out and be a blessing to someone
today
[Music]
hey there before you leave I want to
share with you just one bit of word from
the scripture this is out of Isaiah
chapter 55 verses 6 and 7 seek the Lord
while he may be found call upon him
while he is near let the wicked forsake
his ways on the unrighteous his thoughts
let him return to the Lord that he may
have compassion on him and to our God
who will abundantly pardon who now go
spread the word
[Music]