Le jus du blé

One day I boasted to my friends that I could drink anyone under the table--in green vegetable juice, that is.  I continued to demonstrate this by downing an entire pint of dark green juice in under a minute.  To my friends' amusement and to my horror, this resulted in a state much like alcohol sickness...Fifteen minutes later I was nauseous and detoxing after consuming too much greens in too little time.

Needless to say, I love my green juice.  At home I drink it every day and in large quantities, and I do my best to get a daily shot of wheatgrass in too.  For me, green juice is a key source of energy and nourishment.  However, I left my lovely Green Star juicer behind when I came to France.  Instead I packed a hand crank wheatgrass juicer.  As a study abroad student I knew I was going to live with a French host family, but I didn't know whether I would be granted access to their kitchen, or even if I could use their electricity to juice every day.  So, a manual wheatgrass juicer seemed like a good alternative.  I could always clamp it onto my desk or bedside table.  (Thanks to my lovely housing coordinator, Céline, I was placed in a room that has a own kitchen, so I have plenty of space to prepare my food and grow wheatgrass).

To supply my appetite for green juice I've grown a couple batches of wheatgrass over the past month.  I'm still learning how to time the growing so that I don't have to harvest too much at once.  (When the grass grows beyond 6-8 inches it must be cut, otherwise it loses much of its nutritional value).  Nevertheless, I'm getting the hang of it, and most importantly, I'm getting my greens!!!

Wheatgrass berries

As for wheatgrass growing materials, you can find everything in France.  I buy wheatberries at a local organic food store called La Vie Claire.  There are many organic, or "biologique" stores in Grenoble.  Look for "Blé tendre à germer" (germer = to sprout).  I bought plastic growing trays at a big supermarket, Carrefour.   For soil, my host family offered their own.  If soil is not available, I also hear you can simply grow your wheatgrass on paper towels.  For more instructions on how to grow your own wheatgrass, click here.

I've seen electric centrifugal juicers at a couple of kitchen appliance stores in Grenoble.  I'm sure they can also be bought online, for example, on french Amazon.  However, if you are traveling and don't know whether you will be able plug in, a manual juicer is a good way to go.  I can juice just about any leafy green with my hand crank, in addition to harder veggies like carrots.  It's easy to clean and put together...but it does take some time and a bit of elbow grease to produce a small quantity of juice, which is why this juicer is really suited for small batches of wheatgrass rather than larger quantities of mixed vegetables.

A couple of ounces of wheatgrass every other day is not the same as feasting on a large supply of green juice made from a variety of veggies.  But I made it work, and that's what being raw in France is about: Finding alternatives and adapting to the resources that are available here.

Until next time, bottoms up!

My trusty hand crank juicer and a batch of wheatgrass juice