Maximum Yield USA July 2018 | Page 38

Hydroponic Experiments with Stevia In the first season with stevia plants at the prototype house, the team found that one square meter of growing space is all that is required for the sweetener needs of one person. This allows for harvesting six to eight springs of stevia each day, and the three-inch springs can be used with other herbs for daily tea. The herbal teas are served hot and replace sugar beverages such as soft drinks, fruit juices, and other sweetened beverages. As stevia, like most herbs, is calorie-free, using stevia as the replacement for sweetness eliminated the daily 28 teaspoons of sugar, or 450 calories. “ IN THE FIRST season with stevia plants at the prototype house, the team found that one square meter of growing space is all that is required for the sweetener needs of one person.” Stevia can be grown from seed, but like some herbs, it is difficult to germinate and slow to grow, so the other option is purchasing plants from a plant nursery. The stevia plant is a perennial that can live for several years in a hydroponic system. For the project, stevia is grown in hydroponic culture using our bloom formula, which is a reduced nitrogen modified Steiner formula. Their plants are now about a foot tall after six months of growth and harvest, and they can grow to about three feet tall. When that happens, one square meter will hold about four plants. Also, if growing outdoors, stevia is a tropical plant and needs a frost-free environment, so winter growth requires climate control. Individual plants can be placed in 12-inch diameter pots and grown indoors as decorative plants. Switching from Sugar to Stevia According to studies, the average North American is getting about 60 per cent of their daily sweeteners from beverages, so switching to stevia-sweetened beverages could reduce sugar intake by more than half. Baked goods are also a leading source of refined sugar consumption. In most recipes, dried or fresh stevia can replace sugar. The need for sugar in baked goods is further reduced by replacing flour with sweet potato. About 25 per cent of flour can usually be exchanged with sweet potato, further reducing the needs for sweetener. In the US, the whole stevia leaf is not yet allowed in processed food. However, it is legal for homeowners to grow and use stevia for their own use. Naturally, the $97-billion sugar industry has fought the introduction of stevia, so it is not yet a serious marketplace competitor here in the US. In Japan, however, it is widely used. And while stevia doesn’t necessarily have verified direct diet-related medical benefits, by using it in place of sugar, the average person can remove 450 calories a day from their diet, equal to a pound of excess weight every week. 38 Maximum Yield