Wheatgrass has become the in ingredient to drink, so instead of buying very expensive shots or powders, you can always try making your own wheatgrass juice. Wheatgrass is a form of grass that can be found in health stores or in garden centres. The main reason why it's so popular is that it's made up of 70% chlorophyll and fibre, vitamins and minerals such as vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin E, iron, calcium and magnesium. You won't be able to find another fruit or vegetable that contains more chlorophyll than Wheatgrass. However, the best way to eat wheatgrass is by juicing it yourself fresh from the plant.
Here are Some Quick Facts About Wheatgrass
- Wheatgrass can help detoxify the body and boost cell reproduction.
- It has the ability to increase red blood cells, making it an excellent immune system booster.
- Chlorophyll neutralises toxins in the body including purifying the liver.
- Chlorophyll improves blood sugar issues.
Preparing
- Check your wheatgrass for mould as it tends to spread quickly among sprouts.
- Always wash your wheatgrass
- Yellow sprouts have a different flavour and should be avoided
- Wheatgrass juice needs to be consumed within half an hour of juicing
- Don’t prepare this juice in advance as it will go bad
- Always choose the freshest sprouts as these will have the best flavour.
- Chop up your wheatgrass before feeding it into your juicer
Juicing
Use a masticating juicer as a centrifugal juicer or blender are too fast and will damage the chlorophyll. Chlorophyll needs to extracted gently so you will need a top notch juicer to be able to extract the juice. We would usually recommend twin gear juicers as this are able to get the most yield out of wheatgrass but you can get away with using a horizontal juicer too.
Feed a small amount of wheatgrass at a time to get a better yield
To help with flavour, throw an apple or a handful of grapes in to help sweeten your juice. (trust me it will help it go down a lot easier)!
Drink your juice as soon as you’ve finished juicing.
If you really do struggle with the taste then there are other options which aren’t as powerful as drinking it fresh from the plant but do still have good benefits. If you go to your health store you will find wheatgrass comes in many forms such as powders, capsules, and tablets, these forms are usually made with dehydrated or freeze-dried wheatgrass.
If you are growing your own wheatgrass and find that you have cut too much off of your plant, you can always place it into an airtight container where it will survive for about a week in the fridge.
Recipe
We personally feel the best way to get wheatgrass into your diet is by incorporating it into your smoothies or juices. This will give you an extra health boost and it disguises the taste fairly well.
Just add one shot or more of wheatgrass juice to your smoothies or juices. Heres a great smoothie recipe if you’re just starting out on wheatgrass.
- 2 frozen bananas
- 1 apple
- 1 Small handful of fresh spinach
- 55 ml of wheatgrass juice
- 2 big handfuls of green grapes
- Dash of ground cinnamon