Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Wheatgrass Juicing (The Real Way)

Remember wheatgrass, that amazing (alleged) super food that contains all kinds of beneficial "green power"?  Well, I'm not going to say it's revolutionized my life or health, but having a little pot of the stuff and occasionally juicing it doesn't seem to be doing me any harm.  It's pretty comparable to spinach or broccoli in terms of nutrition, but I can't exactly grow broccoli on a tiny table by my window.

So after several rather unsuccessful attempts to extract some wheatgrass juice using my blender (which I wouldn't really recommend), I purchased this little beauty:

It's on the low end as wheatgrass juicers go, but it had decent reviews, and I didn't want to break the bank.  So far, it's been working just fine, and it's really easy to clean.  Plus, the kids think it's super fun to turn the handle.

So, armed with my juicer and my pot of wheatgrass (which has had lots of Lego cars driven in it the last few days),

I started juicing.  The wheatgrass got a haircut,

and I started running small amounts of wheatgrass through the juicer.

A little cranking, a little dripping of juice, and I got a lovely sip of green gold.  Yeah, just a sip.  



Now, to be perfectly honest, I don't know if I'll ever be a wheatgrass juicing fanatic.  It takes a whole lot of grass to make a tiny bit of juice, and at my growing rate, with two little pots growing at once, I only have enough to juice every 5-10 days.  But it's so easy and cheap (10 minutes and the cost of a handful of wheat) that I think it could be a part of my life indefinitely.  

I've heard from one person that wheatgrass juice is best fermented because of the oxalic acid it contains.  I'll be doing a little more digging into this: the why's and how's, and if I find anything significant, I'll be sure to pass the information along.  But for now, it seems roughly equivalent to juice from any other raw green leafy, so I'm not going to lose sleep about oxalic acid right now.  It's green, tasty (if you like the taste of grass:), and fresh.

3 comments:

  1. That is interesting. I have toyed with the idea of doing this, too, but have not taken the plunge, not knowing if I would really keep up with it, or it would be a fad that passed me by quickly. We do have green things coming out of the garden all year round because of the unheated greenhouse we keep, so I just don't know. Nevertheless, I am happy to see this post and get your take on it!

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  2. loves2spin, having green things to eat year round sounds like a good reason to not bother with wheatgrass. :) The most reliable sources I've seen show that it has very similar vitamin/mineral content to spinach and broccoli. So if you have something like that anyway, it makes more sense to just eat those! You get extra fiber that way that isn't in the wheatgrass juice, too!

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  3. When the "Healthy Living" lifestyle trend began, different kinds of organic supplements popped out in the market, including wheat grass. I immediately tested the power of wheat grass, but in powder form. I drank it twice a day: in the morning and at night. I can't honestly say that it has done wonders for my body. It's kind of expensive (for me), so I stopped drinking it, but I felt refreshed and light while I was drinking it.

    Erlinda Lilly

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