Wheatgrass - sweet?

[jevans]

I am new to "Raw" and about a month ago, I had my first Wheatgrass shot. It was a little tough to get down.

Today, I just juiced wheatgrass that I bought in my health store. I tried it and was surprised to tasted how sweet it was and delicious. Very easy to get down.

Why the differences between the two? IS wheatgrass supposed to be "sweet"?

[DebB]

Hi jevans ~ Yes, wheatgrass is very sweet! Was your first WG shot (in the first sentence) something you juiced yourself, or did you buy a shot?

It's hard to say exactly why the taste difference. If you bought a shot, I would wonder then just when it was actually juiced. If it was juiced fresh, perhaps the WG had gone past the stage when it should have been harvested. *Ü*

[fastfreedom]

Also if I remember correctly from the last time I was juicing wheatgrass.....Which has been a while..... It seems to be a little sweeter while the grass is young and not too tall. I can't tell ya exactly how tall, but you would have to experiment to find out. Then after so many days of growing and the grass getting a bit taller it began to get less sweet and more.... bitter/gross/strong tasting.

It kinda reminds me of certain sprouts. They're sweet while young, but if you let em grow a little too much they lose the sweet taste and become sort of bitter.

[klomasius]

As well as the age of the wheatgrass, your changing tastebuds will also determine the taste of the shot.

As you include more raw foods into your diet, your tastebuds change and many people come to like (or at least tolerate) the taste of wheatgrass shots.

[Shels]

The only time I had a wheatgrass shot it was from a mainstream juice/smoothie company, before I was raw, and it was extremely potent and gross - not in the least bit sweet. I actually had to throw out the drink it was mixed with because it ruined the entire thing.

If they really are sweet when done properly, I may look into growing my own! :)

[klomasius]

Shel, I had a similar reaction when I first had a wheatgrass (as a non rawbie)! I had a shot first, and quickly chucked it down the hatch, but gagged and almost vomited it back up. I really had to stop myself from puking it was that gross.

The next time I had it I made the mistake of putting into fresh juice to hide the taste, not good. I think I forced down half of the drink before my body simply rebelled and stopped me having any more.

Fast forward several years as a rawbie and I can now enjoyably drink a juice with a shot of wheatgrass in it. I can drink a shot of wheatgrasss straight, but I'd rather not, it doesn't make me gag but it still as a little bit of an odd taste that's mildy unpleasant.

My tastebuds have changed DRAMATICALLY, and it's not just with the wheatgrass either, it's with many foods.

[christineg62]

I work at a health food store that sells WG shots, It depends on the grass some trays are sweeter than others, weird, but so good.

[mycatislove]

The first time I did wheatgrass I had the common reaction, sick stomach. Now, someone told me this can be caused by disgestive juices not being strong enough. I don't know if this is true or not, but I do know that wheatgrass tasted nasty as you know what the first time. I vowed, never again. Then I got testy and refused to let an ounce of grass throw me down. I started shooting every day and got used to the taste to the point it was very routine. Life got in the way and I stopped. But I noticed that my system really liked it...and that it detoxed me to the point of some unpleasant symtpoms. So I suppose the nasty stuff already in ones system can be prompted to try to evacuate...not pleasent sometimes. But very telling of how toxic we can be

[sprouts2go]

I love my wheatgrass. My first shot was at a health show and it was grown by a well known name and juiced by him. It was so sweet!!! I went back the next day and had another one!! I have now grown and consumed my own flat of grass and it was just as sweet as the first. I drink it straight and find it delish.
Now I have heard that some places use second harvested grass and they may also have mold issues so this may be why some don;t like it.

[dlt123]

I am new to "Raw" and about a month ago, I had my first Wheatgrass shot. It was a little tough to get down.

Today, I just juiced wheatgrass that I bought in my health store. I tried it and was surprised to tasted how sweet it was and delicious. Very easy to get down.

Why the differences between the two? IS wheatgrass supposed to be "sweet"?

Yes, WG is sweet if it is grown properly. I agree with with Deb said, the WG that may have been older than it should have been.

Also, if you decide to grow your own WG, you might benefit from a thread I started and eventually added some growing tips that have been spot on for delicious juice... Here is a link to the thread I am referring to.

Wheatgrass Drinkers in Oregon

Hope you enjoy.
Dennis

[rawfoodrecipes]

Try growing kamut grass and juice it! Way better than wheatgrass juice.

[Dick Mellon]

Growing sweet grass is simple.

Yes, there are people who will be happy to charge you $100 for some kit, and there are those of you who are more than happy to pay that. . . . and if paying alotta money makes you happy then go-for-it.

For the rest of you, please consider the following:

1. It’s the chlorophyll in any plant that creates the sugar.

2. To increase sugar content, one must increase the amount of chlorophyll.

3. Chlorophyll amounts rise as a result of a nutrient rich growing medium and bright light for long days. 20 hours of light with 4 of darkness is optimum.

4. Chlorophyll in itself is not sweet, but it will make for a nutrient rich wheatgrass drink and that’s why we are here.

5. The nutrients must be available to your grass in a well-drained, pH7 medium.

6. Those of you using a soluble seaweed solution alone are not feeding heavily enough.

7. You need to hit them hard with a nitrogen rich solution from the moment roots emerge from the seed.

8. Misting the grass should not be done, as this encourages mold.

9. Switch from plastic to clay pots to encourage air circulation among the roots.

10. When you water / fertilize, do a, “wash.” That means water until the solution freely drains from the bottoms of your containers. Don’t save that drained water as it holds the waste made by the roots.

11. When your grass is dark green and almost seems too green, then your grass looks like mine.

[Diana Cda]

I've been trying to grow WG to juice for over 15 years; up until 2 weeks ago, I had ultimate failures. I went to Hippocrates in August of 2010 and so the failures have been tough to reconcile myself with <g>, so I'm glad that I finally figured out how to get lush grass with virtually little mold. And I've found in last week that this new type of growing has meant the WG goes down considerably better than my efforts of the last few months! I think that the age is probably a really good reason for the sweetness but I also wonder at lush grass that comes about by good watering. In an effort to keep the mold down, my solution before now was to water minimally (no drainage and that's how I wanted it to avoid mess) and the WG I'd produced up until now was always very bitter. Anyway, now that I resigned myself to mess and have the double-tray method going as my permanent way to grow WG, I water under the shower and let the trays drain (mess in bathtub but, what the heck - ultimately, my health is more important!).

But I wanted to add that the way I dealt with the bitter stuff, beyond the gagging reflex which I always tried to suppress, I mitigated the stomach issues of few hours after drinking WG by making sure I took my WG and green juice along with digestive enzymes.

Now I happen to take the Hippocrates digestive enzymes but any will do as long as they are BIO-ACTIVE, WHOLE FOOD ones not the white powder ones I used to buy in health food store that despite saying natural were not (gee, maybe the white powder was a dead-giveway!!). The enzymes I NOW take only periodically are greenish brown and taste "vegetably", showing to me that they truly come from food sources.

Anyway, did well with that way of dealing with the issue. But now that the wheatgrass is coming out sweet, I'll not need this method and then, of course, as I get healthier with the WG, since my health issues are digestive in nature, I'll probably always be able to drink straight everyday, as I've often lately been able to do with the sweeter juice.

I'm working up to sprouting more as I get more trays, so I'm sure I'll be able to test if letting the grass grow higher makes a difference in its sweetness. In last few days, since I'm not yet producing enough WG to make 2 oz a.m. and p.m., I'm cutting the grass when it's only about 3 to 4" high. Once I'm growing it so that I keep up with demand yet still can let it grow until up to about 6", will see then if that makes a difference in taste.

Good luck and hth.

[Dick Mellon]

In an effort to keep the mold down, my solution before now was to water minimally (no drainage and that's how I wanted it to avoid mess) and the WG I'd produced up until now was always very bitter. Anyway, now that I resigned myself to mess and have the double-tray method going as my permanent way to grow WG, I water under the shower and let the trays drain (mess in bathtub but, what the heck - ultimately, my health is more important!).

Diana. . . I'm happy that you realized that your health is what this is about in that you need to have happy and healthy grass for you to realize the greatest health benefits from your grass.

Mold tends to thrive in dampness combined with poor air circulation.
So, how is your air flow?
If you are using artificial lighting, then you may want to add more lighting to ward off dampness.
For artificial lighting, be careful to choose the right type of lighting.

I'm glad that you are now, "washing," your roots. Everyone needs to understand that plant roots make waste that needs to be washed away. I'm not surprised that your previous grass was bitter as a result of minimal watering.

I'm not sure what kinda, "mess," you are getting in your bathtub. My (soil) containers drain quite clean, in that the roots hold on to all of the soil. If you are getting soil in your bathtub, you may consider lining the bottoms of your containers with screen or fabric. You may also want to consider using a lighter growing medium that the roots will run through faster and better. A light and fluffy growing medium will hold less water, which will also help ward off mold.

[Diana Cda]

Yeah, well, my journey has been 22 years long and I only have had consistent results with everything else besides this whole WG growing in last year and a half. So my health has always been my priority since I've had digestion issues since I was 12 which is nearly 40 years ago now. But the whole watering and draining into the bathtub turned out to be not a good solution at all. I had hoped it would be; but there you are. I've gone back to what worked prior to that this last week, watering by hand and allowing to drain in a separate flat.

I've tried everything in last 15 years and nothing has worked as well as certain elements of what I'm doing now. Mesh and other materials I tried back then didn't work under the roots. There was no way to recycle the materials I tried as the roots became too embedded in it and it was a waste to throw away with the mats. This time, I've been using paper towels and that works well as this "lining" also gets tossed but it has less negative impact as the paper also biodegrades yet it allows for same drainage as without the paper towels. The roots are still growing too much into the trays but the paper towels have stopped this from being the battle it was before. I can still get the root-bound mats out easily enough from the trays, which is the goal. The dirty water the trays have drained in the bathtub since Friday night I'm not prepared to live with _and_ mold started happening even in the double-tray system. No good. I also actually didn't even save any time with the bathtub way since even leaving each set of 4 watered trays for 2-3 hours to drain didn't stop the new problem of mold growing with this system from starting. And in this bachelor apartment, there is no more water in the air in the bathroom than there is in the rest of the apartment, so that wasn't the problem there. Hand watering, by contrast, has still meant lush growth but with minimal, barely discernible mold, if any. So, all things considered, double trays with hand watering seems best way here.

Anyway, in the end, everyone will do things slightly differently to accommodate the ambient conditions and what we prefer to live with. I'm not doing this in a basement or a special room, I don't have those luxuries. I live in a bachelor apartment with extremely limited space so maximum efficiency is needed ever more so than in other situations. Last summer I tried the fan method and that not only didn't help as much as I'd hoped with regards to controlling mold (it hardly made any significant impact and only minimally on the trays the fan directly blew over), but in the end, I also found I was unwilling to live with a solution that increased electro-pollution in my home. But the summer will provide another help when I start opening my window at night for fresh air.

Take care everyone.