Here's something you might be interested in.
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed
Big Screen — Movie commentary
Blurt — Music's inside track
Booze News — San Diego spirits
Classical Music — Immortal beauty
Classifieds — Free and easy
Cover Stories — Front-page features
Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes
Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts
Feast! — Food & drink reviews
Feature Stories — Local news & stories
Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore
From the Archives — Spotlight on the past
Golden Dreams — Talk of the town
The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it
Letters — Our inbox
Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites
Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans
Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists
Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news
News Ticker — News & politics
Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated
Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna
Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated
Poetry — The old and the new
Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers
Reading — The hunt for intellectuals
Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails
San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds
SD on the QT — Almost factual news
Sheep and Goats — Places of worship
Special Issues — The best of
Street Style — San Diego streets have style
Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves
Theater — On stage in San Diego this week
Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative
Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work
Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego
Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads
Your Week — Daily event picks
Organic juicin' in El Cajon
My Organic Place serves up the sweetest wheatgrass juice, along with other grasses and sprouts
Juicin' wheatgrass, Image provided by My Organic Place
Cruising down Los Coches Road in El Cajon, right off I-8, I would have never guessed there'd be an organic wheatgrass grower in the vicinity. There it was, though, their dirt driveway weaving past a mulching pile full of discarded, rectangular flats of used wheatgrass soil. At the top, two large greenhouses greeted me on the left, as did Enrique – brother of the owner of My Organic Place.
The two greenhouses of My Organic Place, Image provided by My Organic Place
Enrique’s brother used to work at a place in Lemon Grove before he decided to go into business for himself. Using filtered water with organically-produced seed and soil, My Organic Place (M.O.P.) also grows other sprouts and grasses – sunflower greens, buckwheat, barley grass and pea shoots.
They mostly supply to businesses (with free delivery!), but are more than happy to accommodate those lucky enough to happen upon the property. I told Enrique what I came here for and he got to juicing — which is quite the process.
For those not familiar with wheatgrass, it’s ridiculously healthy – full of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, and chlorophyll. When juiced and drank, I, amongst others, feel a tingly boost of energy coupled with a feeling of alertness. It is generally grown in 17”x17” flats until the wheatgrass is about 6 inches tall.
Sunflower greens, buckwheat, barley grass and pea shoots, Image provided by My Organic Place
Small clumps of grass are then cut close to the sprout embedded in the soil and pushed through a special juicer that squeezes the juice out of the grass through a corkscrew-like device.
The wheatgrass juice at M.O.P. is very different from the stuff you’d get at a place like, let’s say, Jamba Juice. It’s much cleaner and sweeter with no “grassy” taste at all; there should be no need to suck on an orange slice immediately after drinking wheatgrass, like it’s a shot of cheap mezcal. I've been told that this is the difference between juicing freshly spouted grass versus those that have been sitting around for a while.
Wheatgrass a'growin', Image provided by My Organic Place
The price for a 32-ounce jar of wheatgrass juice here is $14 as opposed to the $3.99 plus tax you’d fork over for a 2-ounce shot of the green elixir at the aforementioned juice chain. Did I mention the $14 price tag comes with free shots for yourself and whomever you happen to have with you? There were three of us and we all received our own glittering 2-ounce shots.
It wasn't until after the green liquid hit my esophagus when I remembered that wheatgrass juice should be consumed on an empty stomach to increase vitamin absorption and prevent a belly ache. Oops. Mild digestive uncomfortableness aside, I still felt that wheatgrass euphoria and with some food and a good amount of water, my nausea subsided right quick.
For those that have their own wheatgrass juicer, an entire flat will set you back a mere $8 – a very small price to pay for about 20 ounces of the freshest wheatgrass in the comfort of your own home. Otherwise, that 32-ounce sealable glass jar will stay good for about a week. Each successive day after that first one, though, the juice did get a little grassier - a little less sweet – but it beats shelling out the big bucks (and dragging my butt) to the juice shop many miles down the road.
Here's something you might be interested in.
Organic juicin' in El Cajon
My Organic Place serves up the sweetest wheatgrass juice, along with other grasses and sprouts
Organic juicin' in El Cajon
My Organic Place serves up the sweetest wheatgrass juice, along with other grasses and sprouts
Juicin' wheatgrass, Image provided by My Organic Place
Cruising down Los Coches Road in El Cajon, right off I-8, I would have never guessed there'd be an organic wheatgrass grower in the vicinity. There it was, though, their dirt driveway weaving past a mulching pile full of discarded, rectangular flats of used wheatgrass soil. At the top, two large greenhouses greeted me on the left, as did Enrique – brother of the owner of My Organic Place.
The two greenhouses of My Organic Place, Image provided by My Organic Place
Enrique’s brother used to work at a place in Lemon Grove before he decided to go into business for himself. Using filtered water with organically-produced seed and soil, My Organic Place (M.O.P.) also grows other sprouts and grasses – sunflower greens, buckwheat, barley grass and pea shoots.
They mostly supply to businesses (with free delivery!), but are more than happy to accommodate those lucky enough to happen upon the property. I told Enrique what I came here for and he got to juicing — which is quite the process.
For those not familiar with wheatgrass, it’s ridiculously healthy – full of vitamins, minerals, amino acids, enzymes, and chlorophyll. When juiced and drank, I, amongst others, feel a tingly boost of energy coupled with a feeling of alertness. It is generally grown in 17”x17” flats until the wheatgrass is about 6 inches tall.
Sunflower greens, buckwheat, barley grass and pea shoots, Image provided by My Organic Place
Small clumps of grass are then cut close to the sprout embedded in the soil and pushed through a special juicer that squeezes the juice out of the grass through a corkscrew-like device.
The wheatgrass juice at M.O.P. is very different from the stuff you’d get at a place like, let’s say, Jamba Juice. It’s much cleaner and sweeter with no “grassy” taste at all; there should be no need to suck on an orange slice immediately after drinking wheatgrass, like it’s a shot of cheap mezcal. I've been told that this is the difference between juicing freshly spouted grass versus those that have been sitting around for a while.
Wheatgrass a'growin', Image provided by My Organic Place
The price for a 32-ounce jar of wheatgrass juice here is $14 as opposed to the $3.99 plus tax you’d fork over for a 2-ounce shot of the green elixir at the aforementioned juice chain. Did I mention the $14 price tag comes with free shots for yourself and whomever you happen to have with you? There were three of us and we all received our own glittering 2-ounce shots.
It wasn't until after the green liquid hit my esophagus when I remembered that wheatgrass juice should be consumed on an empty stomach to increase vitamin absorption and prevent a belly ache. Oops. Mild digestive uncomfortableness aside, I still felt that wheatgrass euphoria and with some food and a good amount of water, my nausea subsided right quick.
For those that have their own wheatgrass juicer, an entire flat will set you back a mere $8 – a very small price to pay for about 20 ounces of the freshest wheatgrass in the comfort of your own home. Otherwise, that 32-ounce sealable glass jar will stay good for about a week. Each successive day after that first one, though, the juice did get a little grassier - a little less sweet – but it beats shelling out the big bucks (and dragging my butt) to the juice shop many miles down the road.
Comments