[Excerpt from "The Body Ecology Diet" by Donna Gates.] Intorduction to Stevia ---------------------- Stevia is an extraordinarily sweet herb...200-300 times sweeter than sugar. It has a slight licorice-like flavor that most of us with a sweet tooth, and all the children we have ever met, love. For some people who only like the taste of real sugar it may take a little getting used to, but it has such important medicinal value that it is well worth learning to love. Stevia is almost calorie-free, so weight watchers love it. It is ideal for children since it prevents cavities. Unlike sugar, it does not trigger a rise in blood sugar. You won't get a sudden burst of energy followed by fatigue and a need for another "fix." Most imporantly for our purposes, it does not feed yeast or other microorganisms, and it increases energy and aids digestion by stimulating the pancreas. Since artificial sweeteners are banned in Japan, the Japanese are the greatest consumers of stevia. A member of the chrysanthemum family (closely related to tarragon and chamomile and distantly related to lettuce, artichokes, safflower oil, and sunflower seeds and oil), it is totally safe and has been used for centuries by the Indians of South America where it grows wild. Stevia is available in a number of forms, including a crude green powder and a brownish liquid extract, which has a strong, unpleasant, licorice-like taste. The white powder is used in our cookbook. If you have trouble obtaining white stevia extract, please contact us at 1266 West Paces Ferry Road, Atlanta, GA 30327 or call (404) 352-8048, FAX (404) 352-3409. Working with the white stevia powder (extract) is difficult, so we usually recommend creating a liquid concentrate from the white powder. We call this concentrate our Stevia Working Solution. To make it, dissolve 1 tsp. white stevia powder into 3 Tbsp. filtered water. The white powder may stick to the spoon but will soon dissolve. Pour this concentrate into a small bottle with a dropper top and refrigerate it to increase its shelf life. A tiny pinch of the powder is so potent that most people put in too much and find that it is just too sweet for them. That's why we recommend using the liquid and experimenting with a few drops at a time to find your own personal level of desired sweetness. One teaspoon of liquid working solution will approximately equal on cup of sugar. With the exception of Nicolette Dumke, no one has worked more extensively to develop recipes using stevia than our Body Ecology staff. In her book, "Allergy Cooking With Ease," Nicolette gives many recipes for carob cake and cookies that you may want to try if you have children who need healthier cakes, especially for birthday parties. She warns that stevia-sweetened baked goods do not brown very much, so when baking, check them for doneness by touching and not by color. Stevia tastes strong in bland foods, but with stronger flavors such as carob it disappears. It blends especially well with citrus fluit flavors such as lemon and cranberry.