Liquid stevia extract is a relatively easy tincture to make at home, and it is a less expensive alternative to the store bought versions. If you grow your own stevia, you can preserve the leaves while still fresh to make the most potent extract. This is my basic stevia recipe, and it is suitable for kids and pregnant women as the alcohol cooks out.
I get dried stevia leaf from here in bulk, or you can preserve your own.
Homemade Stevia Extract Recipe
Ingredients
- fresh or dried stevia leaf
- enough vodka rum, or Everclear to fill the jar
Instructions
- Sterilize the glass jar and lid in boiling water.
- Put enough fresh or dried stevia leaf in the jar to fill it 2/3 full.
- Pour alcohol of choice over the leaves to fill the jar and put the lid on tightly.
- Put in a place where you will see it and let it sit for 36 hours, shaking occasionally.
- Strain the liquid into a small saucepan.
- Turn the heat on low and bring to a simmer. Do not boil! It will ruin the taste!!!
- Simmer for about 30 minutes, stirring constantly and making sure not to boil. It will thicken. When it gets to your desired thickness, remove from heat.
- Store in small jar in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.
Notes
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This can be used in baking recipes like Crock-Pot cheesecake or pumpkin cheesecake. It is also great in coffee, tea, chai lattes, or pumpkin lattes. It is pretty much the only sweetener we use in our house and by making it ourselves, we avoid the bitter aftertaste in the bleached store versions.
Do you use stevia? Ever made it? Share below!
I made this with fresh stevia leaves with vodka, just like you said and it kind of taste like grassy. Is that normal. I didn’t boil it or burn it at all. I also strained it.
I tested stevia and have to say I’m not a fan as the taste is too bitter
but maybe it isn’t all bad? I think more research over a longer period
of time is needed anyhow to really see the benefits and dangers. In Germany and the UK Stevia
is very new to us, only was legally allowed in our countries dec 2011 so
we’re being quite cautious about it. Plus there is only one powdered
brand type at the moment and no liquid form unless we import it from
America. getting hold of the leaves is impossible lol but interesting post!
Where do you get those little dropper bottles? So, it’s ok that my extract is brown? I just used distilled water and a coffee filter with my dried stevia leaves.
Brown is fine. I got mine on Amazon…
with regard to the above recipe, can you tell me what the sugar equivalent is for the stevia syrup?
You wouldn’t be able to use in in place of sugar in baking recipes because the consistency is different, but a couple of drops is usually equal to a teaspoon of sugar.
Any chance of being able to do this with just water? I am sure the shelf life would not be near as long. What about the taste? Just curious. I would like to try both ways. Thanks for any help.
Hi, i don’t know whether i missed something, but how many leaves do you use, if using freshly plucked stevia leaves? thanks!
Hi, is the stevia in the box good to use??
Tried this and it cooked for hours but never thickened and I simmered it all the way down to practically nothing? What could I have down wrong?
Same thing happened to me. I won’t cook it so long next time.
I’ve seen lots of comments around the internet about homemade tasting grassy. Do you find this to be the case, or not? Or is it something that you’ve just grown accustomed to and are not bothered by? I have a stevia plant growing and thought I’d give this a try but have other things I’d like to put in alcohol, too, for later use 🙂
I don’t really notice a grassy taste, but I would suggest using small, young leaves if you can…
I have small young leaves so I’ll give them a try before my plant gets too big. Thanks for the suggestion 🙂
Why is this only good for 3 months and why refrigerate? I thought alcohol based extracts were basically good forever. Are you cooking off the alcohol?
It does change it when you cook off the alcohol. If you skip that step, they do last forever. The cooked version may last longer than that too, but that was the longest any of mine lasted before we ran out, so I didn’t want to say they could last longer when I hadn’t tested it…
hi im wondering if you have heard about stevia leaf being used as an anti fertility herb. ive used a powder form of stevia for at least 15 yrs and its one that its not completely white so its much better than most white powder forms. it can be so expensive so i was hping to use the leaf and try the tinture you have done but i read tghat using it in the green natural form causes infertility issues. not sure what stevia to use. we are hoping to get pregnant. any recommendations?
There is some evidence that it blocks fertility, though the white powdered forms would cause this as well. I’m yet to see anything definite on it, but it would probably be prudent to avoid it (and green peas) while trying to conceive. If you’ve been using it for that long, there are some supplements that can help get fertility back… https://wellnessmama.com/motherhood/get-pregnant-naturally/