How to grow wheatgrass indoors

I do not know about you, but I love to garden my food. I use different seeds and today I’ll share with you how to grow wheat grass indoors.

When I start being interested in healthy food, I discover that it’s so easy to grow your food indoors.

You know that the easy alternative is to go to supermarket and buy from there. But, if you want to buy lettuce, you have to pay closer attention which one looks more vibrant, usually they are lifeless.

Spinach is lifeless, dark on edges and sometimes packed in plastic bags.

Of course, you do not want to buy it, first because of the aspect and second you do not know if fertilizers and the like have been used.

You have the option to buy from health shops or organic shops, but the prices are too high and probably way too much over your budget.

The solution is simple: grow yourself at home. Not all of us are living in a warm country or in a house with garden.

But, you can garden indoors and every week you have new baby greens for you and your family. And you know what is cool with this? No tools required, no weather to fear, no bugs, no pests to endanger your harvest.

The natural light is just enough for your baby greens.

The only investment is amount spent to buy the seeds, but this investment is rewarded by having you and your family healthy.

Steve Meyerowitz is the man who inspired me in starting sprouting.

He is known as ‘Sproutman’ and his book ‘Sprouts The Miracle Food‘ contains the complete guide to sprouting.

All it starts with sprouting

Before having your salad, you have to sprout the seeds.

Sprouting seeds are different, some grow fast, some grow slow.

With a small amount of money you can feed yourself and your family for more than a day. If you look from the economic perspective you will see that you made a good choice.

The baby sprouts have a grater concentration of proteins, vitamins and minerals, so their nutritional value is higher compared with the mature vegetables.

If you choose the organic seed, just say goodbye to chemical, fertilizer and pesticides questions. You grow them, you know what you use.

Easy to grow, you need only water to give them a shower.

They are fresh, no dark edges, harvest and eaten in the same day.

When to harvest the sprouts

Compare with the traditional harvest where a big machine is doing the job, in your case it means to serve yourself from the tray.

If you prefer to eat fresh baby greens, they are at their nutritional peak when the bud develops a cleft and drops its hull.

For wheatgrass the number of days to mature are 8 to 12. The harvest depends on the number of days to mature and also season and temperature.

The process

You need only water and clean soil, from forest or your garden if you have the possibility. I mention these sources because you are sure that the soil is not treated with fertilizers and herbicides.

Take one cup (250 gr) with wheat seeds and soak them overnight or 12-24h.

After 24h wash and place them in a strainer. Give them a bath 3 times per day with fresh water and place them in light.

Let them sprout for 16-24h and continue to wash for 3 times per day. If the sprouts are not growing it means that the seed are old.

After sprouting, prepare a jardiniere or a tray with holes. Place 2cm of soil and place the seeds next to each other. When you finish with the seeds put another 1cm of soil on the top.

From now on, for 3 days you have to cover the tray or jardiniere. Wash them in the morning and for afternoon and evening spray them with water.

Be careful, do not put too much water because the seeds can get mold.

After 3 days, just let them grow in the natural light in an airy space where the air flows. You will spray the plants 3 times per day.

The mold appears when the plants are watered excessively, if the seed are more than 2 years old and when they stay in a space without a good air flow.

Do not despair. Even if the mold is formed, you will consume only the green part.

You can harvest the plant when they have a high of 10-15cm. You can harvest all of them once or you can start when they are 10cm high and cut when you need.

If you harvest all, you can keep them in a glass jar with lid in the fridge for a week.

When you take out from the fridge to consume, wash the plant because like us, the plants breathe and eliminate toxins.

You will use only the green part, the soil and roots just trow them away.

You will notice that a second layer is growing, but the new layer doesn’t contain so many nutrients like the first layer. The second layer lose 50% of the nutritional value.

If you grow them in the winter, the whole process takes 10-17 days because the air is warm and dry. During the summer, the process takes 7 – 10 days because is warm and the humidity is high.

Wheatgrass juice

I’m sharing with you my wheatgrass juice recipe.

Serves: 2

Preparation: 5min

Difficulty: easy

Ingredients: 70g wheatgrass

Directions: you will use only the green part of the plant and place the wheatgrass in a cold press juicer. Do not place all the amount in the juicer, but small amounts.

You should obtain 50 grams of juice, but depends on the plant’s quality: if it’s too dry or too juicy.

Drink it slowly, it has a strong taste of grass and it should be sweet. If it’s bitter, do not drink it.

After you can drink a glass of water or some water with lemon juice.

The wheatgrass juice benefits

Some benefits are:

1. The chlorophyll is higher compare with other plants.

2. It is a strong detoxifier for liver.

3. The chlorophyll is higher fights against tumors and neutralizes them.

4. It transforms our acid environment in an alkaline one where the diseases cannot develop.

5. Contains lots of minerals necessary for our body, like: calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium and vitamins A, B, C, D.

6. Lowers blood pressure.

7. Stimulates the thyroid gland by controlling the obesity and the gland’s function.

8. It’s very beneficial for all types of blood disease.

9. Consume the juice immediately after preparation if you want to take advantage of all nutrients.

10. You can combine this juice with other green juices, root vegetables or fruits juice, except the juice from citrus juice. This juice can be perfectly combine with lemon juice.

How to consume and for how long

You will always start with a small quantity like 1/2 or 1 tea spoon daily for a week.

If it’s too strong for you, dilute with some fruits juice. If it’s still too strong, add 2 green apples when juice the wheatgrass in the cold press juicer.

Slowly you will increase the doze till you reach the 60ml/day of juice.

There is no limit for how long to consume it, but respect the 60ml/day of juice in 3 dozes

Conclusion

As I told you in the beginning, the book ‘‘Sprouts: The Miracle Food: The Complete Guide to Sprouting’ by Steve Meyerowitz was my inspiration in sprouting journey and preparing the wheatgrass juice.

I hope you enjoy this article and I’m happy if you could share your thoughts in the comments section below.

More articles about juicing which I recommend:

“Green juice recipes for weight loss”

“Juicing recipes for weight loss”