As you might have noticed, there has been an absence of recipe posts here for a while.  Baby G, of course, is the cutest factor leading to this; she has a way of needing a snack just when I am at some critical point in the recipe.  The souffle falls, the rice dries or becomes mushy, or, well, I just leave my kitchen altogether to snuggle with her.  Wouldn’t you?

The other factor has been the long parade of visitors that both Sean and I have been cooking for.  When we cook, we have been relying on our old standards: roasted chicken with vegetables, corn risotto, and anything you can stuff into a burrito or serve with little to no preparation.  A bowl of the sweetest white cherries, for instance.  A juicy peach.

Now that the visitors have gone from a gush to a trickle, my imagination has come back in full force, and there are dreams of things to come… delicious things.

The Tribeca Greenmarket is such a huge source of inspiration for me.  Old friends- eggplant, garlic, English peas, green beans, apricots-called out their hellos to me last week.  I was so happy to see them again.

But, there is a new kid in town, someone I have heard about but never really met before: stevia.  Years ago, there was stevia in liquid form on the shelves of our local health food store in the East Village, but that was next to the carob chips.  Let me be very clear.  I DO NOT do carob chips.  I think the stevia might have gotten lumped into the carob category by default.

Reaching for a bunch, I asked the farmers from Stokes Farm what they do with it.  They replied that they didn’t know.

What?!?!?

“Take a little taste,” Tom said with a tiny smile.  I pinched a half of a leaf and tasted.  Sweetness.  Shocking sweetness.  I took two bunches home with me to do experiments.

Right away water was boiled and iced tea steeping.  One small sprig sweetened the entire jug, reminding me of my days in Georgia and the sweet tea that is served there.  I have a feeling you could muddle a single leaf for a cocktail.  Next, I read a few basic things.

Apparently, for South Americans, stevia is something they have known and been using for years.  Hmmm.

Have you tried stevia?  Do you have a favorite way to use it?  C’mon, Brazilians, give it up!