I grew stevia last season (which grew fine) but the only way I knew to process it was to pulverize dried leaves into powder and use it in place of other sugar substitutes and white, refined sugar. Couldn't get used to green color and found it sweet, yes, but more bitter than saccharin (no matter how much or how little I used). Was I doing something wrong? Anyone else grow this herb? How else can it be processed? And how come the stevia in health food stores is white, like refined sugar?

i have tried store bought and home grown stevia and both were bitter to me, also. don't know the answer to health food stevia, unless they sun bleach the process. must be an acquired taste that i need to work on to get use to stevia. peace be with you and may your garden be sweet.

I've used both the white and green and they need to be used in minute quantities. A teeny tiny bit is enough to sweeten a cup of tea. The flavor is different than sugar or honey, a little similar to some of the synthetic sweeteners. My understanding is that it doesn't affect your blood insulin level and so is good for people who are diabetic and/or sensitive to carbos.