Pakistan Gardening Forum

Hello all,
I have seen this plant on internet and found out that PARC was also working on it in 2010, and their was also a program on TV about this plant but I think still it is not very popular or may be it was just a hoax, do any one have any information about this plant?
According to Internet it can be used in place of Sugar and it is abut 300 times sweeter then sugar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia
http://www.parc.gov.pk/articles/sugar_leaf.htm
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as ... 2010_pg5_6

One thing i can confirm that it is not hoax as my firm is working on new formulation of our sugar-free products with its extract...

Good information. How can we get Stevia seeds? I would like to grow it in my garden for an experiment.

Hello Izhar, If you are using this plant can you share some thoughts about it, what are its growing requirements, and how can it be used in a normal home kitchen

Well I am not growing this plant but the firm which i work for is using its extract only for the sugar-free products.. if we can gather some more members then we can purchase it online and distribute among ourselves...

Stevia plant is natural substitute for auger and qurshi and other organizations working on it. it has many strains and they have different level of sweetens with no calories. plants of stevia also available in Pakistan and its germination is very poor and success rate of survival is also poor. it may propagate by tip cutting and its survival rae is much batter. also tissu culture plants also can be manage in Pakistan.

usman.haq wrote:Hello all,
I have seen this plant on internet and found out that PARC was also working on it in 2010, and their was also a program on TV about this plant but I think still it is not very popular or may be it was just a hoax, do any one have any information about this plant?
According to Internet it can be used in place of Sugar and it is abut 300 times sweeter then sugar

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia
http://www.parc.gov.pk/articles/sugar_leaf.htm
http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.as ... 2010_pg5_6

This is not fake and perhaps a 30 year old commercialized product in Japan, Brazil etc. However, the concern is that one of the related compound to the Stevia sweetner is quite a powerful mutagen (possibility of causing cancer) in bacteria. There is some evidence that if this Stevia sweetner is used in fruit juices, the sweetner may partially convert into that unwanted by product. Hence the concern and slow formal govt. approval esp. in the West.

i ordered stevia seeds from summerhillseeds.......only one germinated....will update if i am able to harvest from it

More Green has these in their catalog.. 'm ordering

They dont have the seeds.. only seedlings.. 200/- per pot of 30 seedlings.. any forum mate in Lahore can buy and produce the seeds for fellow gardeners like us...