What to do with wheatgrass?

[plucked]

Hey all,

I purchased a little "cube"/tray of organic wheatgrass. Its about 7" tall (ehat i hear is the harvest length), but I have no wheatgrass juicer. I just figured I could find another useful way of using it.

My questions are;

do i trim it close to the roots?

If I do so, will it grow back?

Do i yank it out and use the roots too?

Where does one find a wheatgrass juicer anyway?

any recipes?

[Kris]

Hello!

I don't have a wheatgrass juicer either, but I am able to juice it pretty well in my blender. It's nothing like what you'd get out of a real juicer, but it does break up the cell walls a bit and release some of the chlorophyl and other nutrients -- better than nothing I say! I normally just throw a handful of wheatgrass and some cold water into the blender and pulse it several times. My blender is a cheapie, so the pulsing is necessary to keep the motor from burning out, but I'm sure you could just let 'er rip with a Vitamix or some such powerful blender. After a few minutes of pulsing, I strain the pulp out and keep the "juice" that's left. I always mix it with some other juice like carrot or orange or a combo to make it more palatable. Again, the result is not as good as what you'd get from an expensive juicer, but I think it's better than no wheatgrass at all.

Hope that helps!

[plucked]

thanks kris! I wonder if i could use it for a green smoothie? did you say or not whether you use the roots or not?

-i realize now there's a sprouting section this should of gone under, oops.

[Kris]

No, I don't use the roots -- just the grass itself. Lately I have been buying the wheatgrass from my amazing market, and it comes root-less and clean. Super convenient, but really no more difficult than just trimming some grass from your plants.

You could definitely use the wheatgrass juice in a green smoothie. However, I make green smoothies every morning for breakfast, and I prefer to use whole greens rather than juice, simply because I havce found that it helps keep me full until lunchtime. But I say yes, throw the green juice into your smoothie and see if you like it!

[Revvell]

Hi plucked,

Yes, trim it close to the roots. It may grow back yet, quite weakly in my experience. I've never used wheatgrass juice in recipes. Usually just juice it up, drink it down, follow with a chaser. Don't ruin perfectly good juice with wheatgrass juice. :D It oxidizes fairly quickly so "should" be drunk w/in a few seconds of juicing for full benefits.

Another thing I've done is chew it to get the juice, then spit it out. Good for gums and teeth.

Revvell

[vegankristen]

I've been thinking about buying wheatgrass to chew instead of juice for the dental benefits, but i've never heard of anyone actually eating wheatgrass.
Everyone juices it or chews it up, swallows the juice and spits out the pulp. Is it too hard on the stomach?

Thanks!
Kristen