Recipes · Health Shot
Wheatgrass Shot with Green Apple
Reader ratingsA small, intensely green shot of fresh wheatgrass softened with green apple and lemon, so it tastes fresh rather than like a lawn.
Popularized in the United States from the 1960s onward by Ann Wigmore and the Hippocrates Health Institute, which promoted wheatgrass juice as a "living food" tonic.
Safety
- Start with 1 oz or less on an empty stomach. Wheatgrass can cause nausea at first, and in one trial six people had to stop because it made their nausea worse.
- Wheatgrass grown on trays can carry mold or bacteria. Buy from a clean source or grow it from fresh seed, cut above the roots, rinse thoroughly and drink it right away. Skip it, or ask your care team first, if you are pregnant, breastfeeding, immunocompromised or having chemotherapy — safety data are thin.
- Gluten comes from the grain, not the young grass, but seed hulls and soil can cross-contaminate. If you have celiac disease or a wheat allergy, ask your doctor first.
- A wheatgrass shot is a small extra to your vegetables, not a substitute for them or for a meal.
Why it’s good for you
Wheatgrass is the young wheat plant, rich in chlorophyll and green-plant antioxidants — a very concentrated way to take in greens, though no substitute for vegetables.
Evidence
Limited evidence
Mostly small, early, or laboratory studies.
The only controlled human data are small pilot studies in people with specific conditions: a 23-person placebo-controlled trial in ulcerative colitis, a 60-person matched-control study with no placebo during chemotherapy, and a 16-person before-and-after study in thalassemia, mostly at 60–100 mL a day. They are too small, and in two cases too loosely controlled, to show that wheatgrass works, and none tested healthy people or a 1 oz shot. Think of it as a chlorophyll-rich green, not a treatment.
General information from research and traditional use — not medical advice, and not a treatment for any condition. If you are pregnant, nursing, taking medication or managing a health condition, check with your clinician first, and seek care for symptoms that are severe or do not improve.
Ingredients
Instructions
- Rinse the wheatgrass well in cold water and shake it dry. Core the apple and cut it into chunks.
- Slow (masticating) juicer or manual wheatgrass press: feed handfuls of wheatgrass through, alternating with apple chunks to help push the blades along. A fast centrifugal juicer extracts very little from grass. No juicer: blend the wheatgrass and apple with 1/2 cup cold water on high for 90 seconds, then pour through a nut-milk bag and squeeze hard.
- Stir in the lemon juice. You should have about 4 oz in total; the blender method gives a slightly milder shot.
- Pour into two small glasses and drink straight away in two or three sips — wheatgrass loses its fresh flavor within minutes. Share the second shot, or freeze it in an ice-cube tray.
Tips
- Buy live trays of wheatgrass at a health-food store, or grow your own in 7–10 days: cut just above the roots with clean scissors and juice the same day.
- Best drunk within 15 minutes. If you must save it, keep it full to the brim in a sealed glass jar in the fridge for up to 24 hours, or freeze it in ice-cube trays for a month.
- Still too grassy? Add more apple, or drop a frozen wheatgrass cube into a smoothie where the flavor disappears.
- Chase the shot with a sip of water or a lemon wedge to clear the aftertaste.
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