It's Faux, Faux, Sweet!

This innocent looking little stevia plant is like the Arabian story about the camel. First, the camel puts his nose under the tent and no one notices because it's so small. Then he places just one foot under the tent and no one notices, still. Then he puts in his shoulder. Everyone is used to seeing the leg, so no one in the tent pays any attention to the shoulder. Then it's an entire half of the camel and eventually, over time, the entire camel has made its way into the tent. Stevia's like that, it has worked its way into our lives over a couple of decades, very quietly.

Stevia, originally from South America, has been around in people's gardens for a long time. I've grown it for 15 years or more, mostly out of curiosity. There were stories circulating about stevia being used to treat hypoglycemia. According to the story, the only legitimate way to get stevia extract for many years was in the form of a face plaster from France. It came in 2 parts, special clay, and a vial of stevia extract. Those who used it said they bought the facial pack from the pharmacy, threw away the clay and used drops of the stevia which seemed to help with the hypoglycemia. Government regulators did not recognize stevia as a sugar substitute. But this year Coca Cola introduced a new extract, Truvia, which is going into their beverages as an "herbal supplement." And with all the publicity, everyone is wanting to grow their own stevia this year.

It's easy to grow in any ordinary garden soil. You simply dry the leaves and crumble them up in things you want sweet. In this form it's not good in cooking, only in foods that have already been cooked. So far, I'm not much impressed with the flavor but I'm still experimenting with it. I like it much better fresh rather than dried.

Taylor Miller, the blogger guru at Ogden Publishing, has gnomes in his pockets. Probably gnomes on his walls and a few loitering around in his garden, too. He posted a photo this week of a group of people, including him and President Obama. His posting told of an interview he conducted with one of the reporters who was at the groundbreaking ceremony of the new vegetable and herb garden at the White House, was quite interesting. I suggested we drive up to D.C. and make a presentation of (1) a gnome for the new Presidential household garden (which I have tentatively dubbed, "Gene-Gnome") and, (2) a lifetime subscription to The Herb Companion magazine, which is where Taylor's blog resides. Most months you'll find my Down to Earth column in the magazine but since I wrote the article on Mints this issue, I'm left missing in the columns dept. But check out Taylor's blog on The Herb Companion website. Here's a picture of Gene-Gnome, too.

The campaign to establish a real garden at the White House was conducted by a wide variety of plant organizations with letter writing, email sign-ups, petitions and more. Once people learned that Mrs. Obama actually cared where her food came from and that she supports locally grown food as opposed to imported food that costs more to ship than it pays the farmer to grow. Lots of us gardener types got really excited about the possibility of a First Family in the White House who pays attention to real food.

Chef Alice Waters, the sometimes outspoken and often controversial California foods activist and owner of Chez Panisse restaurant has been a supporter of the Slow Food movement worldwide and internationally known for her projects to put healthy food in schools, made a big push to the First Family for the placement of a garden, as well. (Alice and I were both among the delegates to the first International Slow Foods Conference in Turin, Italy, in 2004). And why shouldn't there be a vegetable garden at the White House. Historically there was, a long time ago. And during the World Wars, Victory Gardens thrived there.

Last summer, when salmonella scares on lettuce, spinach and jalapeno peppers made us all aware of how important protecting our food safety has become. Having had a kidney transplant just 3 years ago, I'm very aware of the food I eat and how important it is for the food to be safe and healthy. You could call it homeland security, with a small "H," or simply call it eating healthy food you've grown yourself, but the bottom line is, this new family in the White House will have food on their table that was plucked from the soil just hours before, rather than food that's full of preservatives and possibly harvested halfway around the globe, days, even weeks, before.

You can read the details about getting tickets to tour the new garden here and go see for yourself. Happy gardening!

Here are some National Food Holidays coming up in case you need something to celebrate: March 31 - National Clams on the Half Shell Day (now there's a reasonably interesting way to get sick!); April 2, National Peanut Butter and Jelly Day (I guess it could be re-named, "Salmonella & Jelly Day"...ok, that's not actually fair), National Egg Salad Week, April 12-18 (Josh's mother celebrated early this year and made egg salad sandwiches for our picnic in the woods yesterday), and last, for April is National Pretzel Day on April 26. You can find more odd and unusual food holidays to celebrate if you look under "my favorite blogs" list to the right and click on Bizarre Food Holidays.

And another bit of news in case you missed it:

Buying organic may be hazardous to your health!

TULSA, Okla. — One of the most deadly spiders in the world has been found in the produce section of a Tulsa grocery store. An employee of Whole Foods Market found the Brazilian Wandering Spider Sunday in bananas from Honduras and managed to catch it in a container.

The spider was given to University of Tulsa Animal Facilities director Terry Childs who said this type of spider kills more people than any other.Childs said a bite will kill a person in about 25 minutes and while there is an antidote he doesn't know of any in the Tulsa area. Spiders often are found in imported produce, and a manager at Whole Foods says the store regularly checks its goods and that's how the spider was found. Won't that make you think twice the next time you grab a bunch of bananas for the shopping cart!

Stevia, Sweetener of the Future

Lots of us gardeners who like to grow herbs know the plant, stevia, the extremely sweet leafed herb that is native to Paraguay. Just one little leaf is as sweet as a teaspoon of sugar, but has no calories. People who want a sweetener without calories, or people with diabetes, use stevia instead of sugar. It works best if added after the cooking process rather than adding it before cooking. I grow one or two stevia plants in my herb garden each year and I offer the dried, powdered herb for sale through my business.

This week, The Coca Cola Company and Cargill jointly announced a new stevia extract. The brand name is Truvia (tru-VEE-a) and it will be showing up in a multitude of products made by those companies.

An article on the FDA’s website describes stevia’s unusual status as a dietary supplement, but not as a food additive. “Stevia is derived from a South American shrub,” the article says. “Though it can impart a sweet taste to foods, it cannot be sold as a sweetener because the FDA considers it an unapproved food additive.”

There have been rumors for years that the sugar industry’s lobbyists have successfully petitioned the FDA against stevia being approved as a sweetener. There is a good deal of information on stevia being treated much like an illegal drug before the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act (DSHEA). Stevia cannot be labeled a “sweetener” or even referred to as “sweet,” according to the FDA website (more information can be found at www.stevia.net) What is definite at present is Cargill and Coca-Cola are moving ahead with the release of Truvia extract, made from the stevia plant, and labeling it as a dietary supplement instead of a food additive, which keeps it in the legal status for the FDA.

The announcement is significant because this stevia extract has the possibility of replacing other artificial sweeteners now on the market. And all of this from a sweet little plant you can grow in your own garden.

Stevia is pretty easy to find if you intend to grow it yourself. I’ve seen it at every plant festival I’ve attended this year including the annual Herbal Affair at Sand Springs, OK, at the Spring Gardenfest at Baker Creek Seed near Mansfield, MO and several farmer’s markets and swap meets. Ten years ago stevia plants were difficult to find but not any more. You can order it by mail (just click on the “Looking for Plants?” button on my website for sources www.LongCreekHerbs.com) or at any nursery selling herbs. Spring Fever Greenhouses in Rogersville, MO has it, as does Perennials, Etc. at Garfield, AR.

The plant is grown here as an annual even though it supposedly will grow into a small shrub in more tropical areas. In my garden is reaches about 15 inches tall and can be harvested throughout the warm months. It can be overwintered but I simply buy new plants in the spring when I buy my other annual herbs.

To grow stevia, plant it in average garden soil in full sun. The herb will grow anywhere basil or tomatoes grow. You might want to plant several plants if you are going to harvest it to dry for use later. Just like basil or any other herb, the more you harvest it, the more leaves and better flavor it’s going to produce.

Several readers responded to the previous column and emailed me asking where they could find yellow plastic drinking glasses to make into sticky traps. Wal-Mart usually carries yellow as do the party stores and often the Dollar Store has them. Tanglefoot is available at nurseries, garden centers and most area hardware stores.

No, these fellows aren't my cousins. They're part of the Presley Family musicians in Branson. But don't they look like they could use a glass of iced tea with some stevia in it?