Friday, May 27, 2011

Stevia

Tonight it was off to the local big-box store to take advantage of the 2x20lb pack of Kingsford charcoal  for $7.97.  That's a great price and even though I have enough charcoal to host my own version of Burning Man, I couldn't pass it up.  No trip to the Depot would be complete without making a pit stop in the garden center.  You know how some people can't walk through the local animal shelter without taking home the whole lot, I'm the same way in the garden center.

Successful in my restraint, I only came home with three plants:  Lemon cucumber, Santa Fe Grande pepper and the herb Stevia.  I've never seen or heard of it until this week when it was mentioned on two separate podcasts (I couldn't survive my 90 minute commute to LA without that iPod). So there it was, sitting on the shelf. 

The leaves of this plant are reportedly 10 times sweeter than cane sugar.  When I got home, I tore off a leaf and started chewing.  Guess what it tasted like - yup, sugar.   Now I have to figure out where it's gonna live this summer.  I'm thinking it can be added to fresh tea and probably a cocktail or two.  I also read that the aphids can't stand it, so maybe I'll put it next to the cucumbers.

By the way, what to do with all that charcoal?



The new addition to the family

1 comment:

  1. That's nice. The plants are looking great and specially the first picture of huge cauliflowers.

    ReplyDelete