Stevia Rebaudiana, named for Spanish botanist and professor of Botany at the University of Valencia Petrus Jacobus Stevus (Pedro Jaime Esteve 1500–1556).Stevia is a member of the chrysanthemum family, a subgroup of the ragweed family (Asteraceae family). Many people do not know that there significant differences between the stevia purchased at the grocery store and what you grow in your garden. The stevia products found at the store don’t actually contain the whole leaves of the Stevia plant, but are processed and refined extracts called rebaudioside A (Reb-A) and are not pure. The Guarani people of South America have used Stevia Rebaudiana for over 1,500 years. They have called it “ka’a he’ê” which translates to sweet herb. In Brazil and Paraguay the leaves have been steeped in teas as a sweetening agent and used for medicinal purposes. By the year 1899, a Swiss botanist named Moises Santiago Bertoni wrote papers about its sweetness, but it wasn’t until 1931 that it became of interest to the French chemists for its glycosides, the compounds responsible for its sweet flavor. Today it is a great sugar alternative for diabetics.
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