Stevia Rebaudiana
STEVIA REBAUDIANA is a sub-tropical plant. It’s leaves are SWEET - many times sweeter compared to the ordinary cane sugar. The common table sugar is derived from the roots of the beetroot plants and the stems of sugar cane plants, STEVIA gives its sweetness from its leaves.
The difference between Stevia and other table sugar is that the Stevia leaves can be made into tea - sweet green tea - also known as ‘green stevia’ and consumed in its wholeness. Unlike the common table sugar, that went under several processes before turning into crystalised white sugar, Stevia tea is all natural and organic, free from chemicals.
Of course, another form of Stevia - Stevia Concentrate - too went through certain processes to extract its sweetness which are several hundred time sweeter than the ordinary table sugar. This kind of sugar is mainly used by manufacturers of the food and beverage industry for economic reasons, but most important of all, is its outstanding property - Sugar Without Calories, or Sweetness Without Sickness!
The best form of Stevia is the ‘Green Stevia’, in the form of dried leaves or powdered. Just a couple of leaves, and a cup of hot water, you’ll get a cup of fresh green tea, sweet of course. You may grind the leaves into powder and packed into sachets for convenient.
We first came into contact with this plant in 2009. Stevia originates from Paraguay, South America. We are from Malaysia, and got some saplings and planted them. We reproduce these plants from cuttings and seeds. We produce Green Stevia; in the form of leaves and powdered.
Neighbours and visitors were amazed with the sweetness of the leaves and asked some saplings to plant. We shared that ‘Gift of Nature’ with them and eventually more people began to visit us to buy some plants. We sold a few thousand plants in a span of two years. Finally all the plants died and we have to redo the whole process all over again. It is labourous and requires lots of watering. From our experience, for an individual to cultivate Stevia on a commercial basis is not practical, but when many people plant a few plants each, then we can combat Diabetes without giving up on sweetness. Save your community - plant Stevia!