I have a sweet tooth.
There. I said it.
As much as I would like to be one of those people who can happily chug black coffee and has no problem passing up dessert, I’m just not.
Now, as my real-food journey has progressed, I have gotten much better than I used to be. White sugar is pretty much banned from our house, and I don’t even use as many unrefined sweeteners as I used to. Eating a piece of fruit generally satisfies my cravings for sweetness (which have lessened considerably), and I’m pretty darn creative about using small amounts of maple syrup, honey, or stevia to sweeten stuff instead.
Stevia extract is amazing stuff. It’s pretty popular right now, but in case you haven’t jumped on the stevia train yet, here is a quick run-down: Stevia is simply a plant. Yup– a plant. It’s not created in a laboratory and it’s most definitely not one of those scary artificial sweeteners. Stevia is 200-times sweeter than sugar and you can grow it right in your garden. That’s my kind of sweetener!
Of course, there is some debate surrounding stevia, (because, quite frankly, there is debate surrouding everything these days…) Some people question if it is safe to use in large amounts, and other folks don’t like the more-processed forms of stevia powder on the market today.
However, I feel pretty confident in simple stevia extracts, especially when you make them yourself. Just remember– stevia is SUPER sweet, so you’ll only want to use a drop or two at a time!
How to Make Stevia Extract
You will need:
- Fresh stevia leaves (Dry leaves can work too–see the note below)*
- Vodka*
- Clean glass jar with lid
*The amount of ingredients you need will depend on how much stevia extract you want to make. I made a fairly small batch this time around, so I only ended up using about 1 cup of vodka, and a handful of chopped leaves. Depending on how many stevia plants you have, you can make a big batch, or just a small one.
Wash the leaves and remove them from the stem. Discard any wilted or brown leaves, and coarsely chop the rest.
Place the leaves into a clean, glass jar. I filled my jar to the top, but I didn’t pack the leaves down.
Fill the jar with vodka, making sure the leaves are completely covered.
Place the lid on securely, and give it a good shake and set it aside.
Let the leaves steep in the vodka for around 48 hours. This is a much shorter time frame than many other extracts, but if you let it sit more than a day or two, the resulting stevia extract is pretty darn bitter.
After 48 hours, strain the leaves from the vodka (I also gave my leaves a good squeeze to smoosh out every last bit of extract).
Pour the extract into small saucepan and heat it gently for 20 minutes. Do not let it boil, just warm it up to remove the alcohol and improve the sweetness. It will also thicken up a bit and reduce in volume.
Pour your finished extract into a small bottle (I like one with a dropper–it makes it easier to use) and store it in the fridge. It should last several months.
How to use Homemade Stevia Extract
Add 1-2 drops to your favorite beverages (I especially love using homemade stevia extract to sweeten my coffee or tea!) A little bit goes a looooong way, so start with small amounts. I found I had to use a bit more of my homemade stevia to get the desired level of sweetness, as compared to the store-bought stevia I’ve tried. But I think the sweetness will depends on how long you heated the extract and how many leaves you used.
Kitchen Notes
- Dry stevia leaves can also be using to create homemade stevia extract. Just skip the washing/chopping step, and cover them with vodka. Just be sure to select dried, crushed leaves, not stevia powder.
- I imagine you could use other types of alcohol here, but I like vodka because it’s cheap.
- Don’t want to use alcohol in your extract? Here’s a tutorial for water-based stevia extract.
- You technically don’t *have* to heat the stevia extract after the steeping period, but if you don’t, the resulting extract will be more bitter. However, the up-side is that it will keep longer and you don’t have to store it in the fridge. (the alcohol acts as a preservative).
- Fresh stevia leaves (Dry leaves can work too–see the note below)*
- Vodka*
- Clean glass jar with lid
- *NOTE:The amount of ingredients you need will depend on how much stevia extract you want to make. I made a fairly small batch this time around, so I only ended up using about 1 cup of vodka, and a handful of chopped leaves. Depending on how many stevia plants you have, you can make a big batch, or just a small one.
- Wash the leaves and remove them from the stem. Discard any wilted or brown leaves, and coarsely chop the rest.
- Place the leaves into a clean, glass jar. I filled my jar to the top, but I didn’t pack the leaves down.
- Fill the jar with vodka, making sure the leaves are completely covered.
- Place the lid on securely, and give it a good shake and set it aside.
- Let the leaves steep in the vodka for around 48 hours. This is a much shorter time frame than many other extracts, but if you let it sit more than a day or two, the resulting stevia extract is pretty darn bitter.
- After 48 hours, strain the leaves from the vodka (I also gave my leaves a good squeeze to smoosh out every last bit of extract).
- Pour the extract into small saucepan and heat it gently for 20 minutes. Do not let it boil, just warm it up to remove the alcohol and improve the sweetness. It will also thicken up a bit and reduce in volume.
- Pour your finished extract into a small bottle (I like one with a dropper–it makes it easier to use) and store it in the fridge. It should last several months.
You. Are. Awesome. Thank you!
This is great! I’m experimenting with homemade fly repellants and I wanted to try using the leaves of Madre de Cacao Gliricidia sepium. I’ve read that the leaves are used by crushing and mixing with water, then rubbing on the animal. Do you think the technique you described will extract the smell of the leaves or whatever is in the leaves that supposedly repels insects? Also, can you use any kind of alcohol, even rubbing alcohol? Although, I did also read that the smell of vodka repels flies!
DO NOT use rubbing alcohol! You need to use food grade ethanol.
It’s worth a try! I would avoid the rubbing alcohol though–just use vodka.
Thank you! Will stick to the vodka and see how it works. The strange thing though, is that two weeks later most of the flies seem to have disappeared on their own!
Thanks so much for this post! I grew stevia a few years ago, but didn’t know that I could make an extract from it. I just dried it and needless to say, this is much better. Thanks for the info!
This is one product that I do like over sugar but, you say it taste better home made than the store bought stuff. I also like that. I guess the cheapest vodka will do the trick right? Lastly, just where do you buy the seeds to grow it? I’ve never seen any seeds for sale online. Is it a plant that requires a lot of sun and only grows in the summer? Could you grow it indoors with the sun shining in a window during winter? How much water if grown indoors in a flower pot would require? Does it favor to be on the dry side? A lot of questions but, I don’t have a good woman around who would automatically know these answers…..hahaha. Thanks
I bought a stevia plant at the same herb farm i picked up a few other starter herbs at this year. It grew very easily!
Any chance you answering the questions I posted above yours? I had a few and you said you got yours from an herb store? That’s one answer. I live in the north west so, where you are probably our climates are a bit different and that’s why I asked the nit picking questions. Thanks
I’ve bought stevia seeds from Seed Savers Exchange (you can look them up online). I’ve also seen them in other seed catalogs, but I don’t recall which ones.
Thanks for the tip. I’ll check the site out.
I live in Michigan and after I bought it I just plopped it in my herb garden and it has done fine all summer! We have had plenty of rain so I haven’t even watered it…it just keeps growing with no effort on my part. I hope you have as much luck! I don’t know about indoors – my plan is to make powder or extract from it at the end of the summer, to last through the winter.
That’s good to hear. Seems to like water. Do you have to plant a new seedling every year or does it come back on it’s own?
I have been growing Stevia for several years, it reseeds itself so have shared a bunch. I made the green Stevia powder and it’s great. I will save it for the winter as I use fresh leaves when I steep my tea.
You mentioned you live in the NW. The NW, particularly the Eugene, OR area, grows most of the commercial Stevia in the country, from what I have read in the past. So you shouldn’t have any problem growing.
Thanks Ricki. I had no idea about Oregon. You answered two questions. I appreciate it. This gives me a source to where I can get seed, plant or finished product as well as, knowing it will grow here.
I bought seeds from Jung Seed Company online about 2014. I planted them in “Dixie” cups to sprout, and then transplanted the seedlings to a pot. (Later to a larger pot, too.) They grew well all summer and went to seed in the fall. I harvested the leaves by cutting it back to just short stubs sticking up from the soil. I move the pot indoors each winter and barely shows life all winter. I move it back outside in Spring and it grows. I repeat the process each year and the plant is doing fine after 3 years. I am in north Georgia and we get a couple weeks of below freezing temperatures each winter.
I make alcohol extract from the leaves according to the instructions here, thanks to Jill. I use Skyy vodka made from grain with no GMOs.
Yes, cheap vodka will work– you should be able to find the seeds online or in your local garden store–I found the small plants in the herb section of a local store here.
I’m not sure about growing it indoors–I planted mine in full sun and water it moderately, and it’s doing well like that!
Thanks Jill. Knowing the cheap vodka is used as a kick starter is good. I don’t drink vodka and I’d hate to have to buy something expensive. It would defeat the purpose. Now, if you’re talking about Absinthe well now THAT’S a different story. Hahaha……
It depends on where you live. In south central Virginia I understand nurseries start selling plants in April and they will grow well in the summer as an annual plant. I was told that because of decreased sunlight in the winter, I would need grow lamps if I wanted to grow them in the cooler months. I hope to grow enough in the summer to be able to harvest and process a years worth, but not boiling out the alcohol to preserve the sweetener. I may start seeds indoors in March with grow lights to minimize expense and maximize summer growth and overall harvest . We’ll see. Check with your local nursery for details where you live.
For clarification, I was referring to growing indoors with grow lights in the winter and cooler months.
Thanks Jill for sharing, this is perfect! I just need to find a Stevia plant for my herb garden? We raise bees and honey is our go-to sweetener, but I need another option and this would work. I have purchased Stevia from the grocery store but it is very expensive and would rather have it coming from my garden and homemade.
Yay! I grew Stevia for the first time this summer and I have quite a bit. I was just thinking over the weekend that I need to harvest some of it. Now I know what to do. Thanks Jill!
will this make the “greensy” tasting stevia or the pure “clean” tasting stevia?
thanks!
I dehydrated some stevia leaves & then ground them in a blender. I add some of this to smoothies for the sweetness & also to cereals, etc. Works very well.
I read somewhere that stevia can cause infertility and that’s why I don’t recommend it personally, but this is a great step-by-step and perfect for anyone who wants to make their own stevia extract at home without any additives. 🙂
The science is in on the safety of stevia if you’re interested.
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/is-stevia-good-for-you/
Can vegetable glycerin be used instead of alcohol? My oriental DNA does not allow me to process alcohol and it becomes toxic when consumed. I would imagine those with children may also be interested in a glycerin alternative
I know you can use glyercin with other extracts, so I imagine it’d work with this as well. Or you can try the water method I linked in the post. 😉
Thanks very much for sharing!
You said, “You technically don’t *have* to heat the stevia extract after the steeping period, but if you don’t, the resulting extract will be more bitter. However, the up-side is that it will keep longer and you don’t have to store it in the fridge. (the alcohol acts as a preservative).”
I’m assuming you would still remove/strain the leaves, right? Any idea how long it will keep without heating? I’m wondering if maybe this would be a good way to make up several batches for storing (like over winter), and then heat them when you’re ready to use them…?? Or will they still be bitter after sitting that long?
Yes, you would still want to strain the leaves regardless. It should keep for months (years?) as long as you don’t heat it. Alcohol is a wonderful preserver.
I raised a beautiful stevia plant, then to my horror, saw my dog hiking his leg at the plant. He ‘watered’ the leaves well. I never wanted to use them in my tea after that!
Noooooo! 😉
Hey, Jill. Thanks for this information. Question for you. Will it work with stevia leaves that have been dried? Or will just be wasting perfectly good vodka? I ran some of mine leaves through the dehydrator before I read this, not realizing I needed the leaves fresh. Thanks.
Yep! You can definitely use dried leaves. 🙂
Yay! Thanks, Jill! You rock!
How long will the heated extract last? Do you refrigerate it ? Thanks so much, I really love your blog !!!
It should last up to several months in your fridge!
What happens if it boils a little bit?
It becomes bitter
I wonder if I didn’t heat the extract initially for longer storage purposes could I then heat it a little at a time later on for use. Basically I want to make a lager batch than I know I can use in the several months it will store for so I was thinking of not reducing it all at once but just a few ounces at a time. Any input?
How sweet is the extract? If I add 1-2 drops to anything (coffee, almond milk), I can’t notice it. When I made mine using this method, I needed to add like 60 drops in coffee before I could tell that it was getting just a little sweet. Is it supposed to be so diluted? I mean the final solution looks green as grass.
Just a heads up but stevia is cousin to ragweed, so be careful using it, especially the powder. I accidentally inhaled some powder when the lid snapped and I had to go on Prednisone to get rid of the gasping. (no, I don’t have asthma)
Its always to test something, especially on kids.
Can you not use isopropyl alcohol to do the same extraction?
I’m a first time grower so I am completely ignorant of how to make the extract. Thank you for the recipe! I was just going to dry the leaves and grind them! This will be so much better!