We see a need for a complete source of information on this food. And so, on one level, this book attempts to provide all of the information currently available about cereal grasses. Wheat grass is, as the name suggests, the young grass stage of the wheat plant. Given soil, air, sunshine, and water, and left to its own devices, wheat grass grows into wheat , the familiar amber waves of grain. In its youth, wheat is a very dark green, leafy plant.
Barley grass is the young grass stage of the barley plant.
Other cereal grasses include rye grass and oat grass. All look, smell, feel, taste, and, most importantly, have the nutrient and chemical makeup of green leafy vegetables rather than of cereal grains. Young cereal plants were valued in ancient times. It has been said that people in the ancient Middle East ate the green leaf tips of the wheat plant as a delicacy. Bottled, dehydrated cereal grass has been a popular food supplement for people in the United States since the early 1930s.