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We have had several people ask if our Stevia plants were Certified Organic and if not how they were grown. This is my answer to the emails.
Our Stevia plants are grown from cuttings not from seed. Our stock is from the research project that the Canadian government ran for many years. Our plants are not the last plant in there development project, that one is patented, but they are very good quality and better than you may find anywhere else.
Our Stevia plants can not be considered "certified organic" because we use chemical fertilizers on them. The fertilizer we use is "Peters" which is considered the best quality in the greenhouse industry. It is the most expensive so we are very careful as to not waste any. The Stevia plants in our plant production cycle never get planted in the ground (therefor no soil born pests). They are grown in pots on elevated benches out side during the summer and brought into the greenhouse for the winter. Outdoors they are not bothered by insects so we have no need to spray. However indoors, during the winter, white fly is a problem and we do spray with "Pyreth-It". This pesticide is made from the Pyrethrum Daisy and is approver for use on organic crops. We use Pyreth-It only as needed as our first line of defense is Lady Bugs and other beneficials that we have been selling for years. At no time would I ever stop one of my grand kids from going out to the greenhouse and eating a leaf from the Stevia plants. Of course they have been tough to watch out for Lady Bugs and not eat them.
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| Super Sweet Stevia - North American Grown: Two years ago we harvested the first large scale planting of North American grown Stevia. This is an all new Stevia that is expected to be 1 1/2 times sweeter than South American or Chinese Stevia. These new Stevia plants are the result of 8 years cross pollination and selection to produce a crop with very low Stevioside content and a very high Rebaudioside A content. Stevioside is usually the higher glycoside
in the Stevia plant, it is also the one that has the bitter factor. Thus we have eliminated the bitterness or after taste as well as improving the sweetness. Super Sweet Stevia has a cleaner sweetness. We harvested over 4 ton last year from a little over 2 acres. This year we expect to be planting about 8 acres of this improved Stevia. |
| Stevia story from |
For hundreds of years, people in Paraguay and Brazil have used a sweet leaf to sweeten bitter herbal teas including Yerba mate. For nearly 20 years, Japanese consumers by the millions have used extracts of the same plant as a safe, natural, non-caloric  sweetener. The plant is Stevia, known as Stevia rebaudiana, and today it is under wholesale attack by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Stevia is a fairly unassuming perennial shrub of the Compositae family, native to the northern regions of Paraguay. It has now been grown commercially in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Central America, the United States, Israel, Thailand, England, Russia and China. The leaves contain several chemicals called glycosides, which taste sweet, but do not provide calories. The major glycoside is called stevioside, and is one of the major sweeteners in use in Japan and Korea.
Stevia and its extracts have captured over 40% of the Japanese market. Major multinational food companies like Coca Cola and Beatrice foods, convinced of its safety, use stevia extracts to sweeten foods for sale in Japan, Brazil, and other countries where it is approved. Europeans first learned of stevia when the Spanish Conquistadors of the Sixteenth Century sent word to Spain that the natives of South America had used the plant to sweeten herbal tea since "ancient
times".
The saga of American interest in stevia began around the turn of the Twentieth Century when researchers in Brazil started hearing about "a plant with leaves so sweet that a part of one would sweeten a whole gourd full of mate." The plant had been described in 1899 by Dr. M. S. Bertoni. In 1921 the American Trade Commissioner to Paraguay commented in a letter "Although known to science for thirty years and used by the Indians for a much longer period
nothing has been done commercially with the plant. This has been due to a lack of interest on the part of capital and to the difficulty of cultivation."
Dr. Bertoni wrote some of the earliest articles on the plant in 1905 and 1918. In the latter article he notes: "The principal importance of Ka he'e (Stevia) is due to the possibility of substituting it for saccharine. It presents these great advantages over saccharine:
1. It is not toxic but, on the contrary, it is healthful, as shown by long experience and according to the studies of Dr. Rebaudi.
2. It is a sweetening agent of great power.
3. It can be employed directly in its natural state, (pulverized leaves).
4. It is much cheaper than saccharine."
Unfortunately, this last point may have been the undoing of Stevia. Non caloric sweeteners are a big business in the U.S., as are caloric sweeteners like sugar and the sugar-alcohols, sorbital, mannitol and xylitol. It is small wonder that the powerful sweetener interests here, do not want the natural, inexpensive, and non-patentable Stevia approved in the U.S.
In the 1970s, the Japanese government approved the plant, and food manufacturers began using Stevia extracts to sweeten everything from sweet soy sauce and pickles to diet Coke. Researchers found the extract interesting, resulting in dozens of well-designed studies of its safety, chemistry and stability for use in different food products. Various writers have praised the taste of the extracts, which has much less of the bitter aftertaste prevalent in most non caloric
sweeteners. In addition to Japan, other governments have approved Stevia and Stevioside, including those of Brazil, China and South Korea, among others. Unfortunately, the US was destined to be a different story. Stevia has been safely used in this country for over ten years, but a few years ago, the trouble began.
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| (pure extract of the herb Stevia Rebaudiana - "Sweetleaf") |
What Doctor's Are Saying About Stevia--------
Dr. Julian Whitaker
Dr. Whitaker's Newsletter, Dec. 1994
"Stevia...is not only non-toxic, but has several traditional medicinal uses. The Indian tribes of South America have used it as a digestive aid, and have also applied it topically for years to help wound healing. Recent clinical studies have shown it can increase glucose tolerance and decrease blood sugar levels. Of the two sweeteners (aspartame and stevia), stevia wins hands down for safety."
Leigh Broadhurst, Ph.D
Chemist and Nutritional Consultant
"All the benefits of saccharin and none of the drawbacks. When used correctly, stevia doesn't have a taste...it's just sweet, unlike saccharin, which becomes quickly bitter when overused. Much more concentrated than aspartame."
Robert C. Atkins, M. D.
From Dr. Atkins "Health Revelations" Newsletter, April 1994
"Stevia has virtually no calories. It dissolves easily in water and mixes well with all other sweeteners...I used it myself in delicious homemade ice cream that is extremely low in carbohydrates."
New super pure Stevia - Advantages:
100% Natural with no artificial preservatives or additives,
No Malto-Dextrin, No FOS
Special filtering removes bitterness of some stevia products,
No refrigeration necessary, so you can carry it with you,
Anti-cavity and plaque retardant,
Antibiotic, great as a moth wash or for sore throats,
Use for baking, (1/8 teaspoon of Stevia replaces 1 cup sugar)
Aid diabetics and hypoglycemics,
Rich in nutrients,
Great for hyperactive children.
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131 Bobwhite Road, Rogersville, Missouri, 65742, USA
Telephone: 417-753-4000 or 800-753-9199, Fax: 417-753-2000
Last Updated: 09-03-03
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