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PINES was the original cereal grass provider and pioneered the super-food movement with the highest quality ingredients available.

Eventually, poorly grown and nutrient-poor cereal grasses appeared on the market. While most of our customers continued to purchase from us, some replaced our quality greens with poor quality ones to increase their profit margin.

Consumers know when a product doesn’t live up to its claims and they know they deserve nutrient-dense products that taste great. Give your customers the best by choosing ingredients from PINES.

Nutrition

PINES harvests its wheatgrass at the once-a-year jointing stage, which is when it’s most nutrient-dense. During more than 80 years of research, all scientists agree that only cereal grass harvested at the jointing stage provides the high nutritional components credited for the phenomenal results in clinical studies. Cereal grasses from other growers are made from the flag grass stage of growth, which has less than half the nutrition of true cereal grass from PINES.

The kind of fiber in true cereal grass is exactly what is missing from most diets. It is the kind of fiber that causes tablets to expand 12 times their original size. The expansive nature of true cereal grass fiber results in what is known as “roughage,” which is very important for intestinal health. Pines’ true cereal grass also encourages the flora that results in a healthy digestive tract.

The easiest way to determine the nutritional value of a vegetable powder is to look at the color. The brighter and darker green after mixing with water, the more vegetable nutrition in it. The greener the color, the more it helps you meet the USDA standard of eating more vegetables than any other food. Research shows eating three or more servings of truly green veggies each day help protect you against degenerative disease. The greener your green superfood, the more nutrition and protection it provides.

Taste

Cereal grass reaches peak nutrition for only a couple of days in its growth cycle. At that stage, it has a sweet taste and aroma. After that, the nutrition quickly drops, the vibrant color is lost, and the flavor changes.

Juices squeezed from cereal grasses and other greens quickly reach extremely high bacterial levels because without pasteurization, juices quickly sour. On the other hand, whole food greens grown by Pines contain a fraction of the bacterial levels. In addition, most green juice powders come from irrigated regions with high lead content. Recent analysis of green juice powder samples showed levels at least three times above California’s Prop 65 standards.

Process

PINES grows wheatgrass correctly, following the science that was developed on our farm and in our labs, beginning in 1932. Wheatgrass is a cold weather crop, so we plant in the fall, when the soil is still warm, which induces a complex root structure. In the first 30 days, the roots have gone down a foot or more deep in our rich glacial soil. Although the leaves do not grow much during the cold of winter, the roots are busy building a reserve of energy for the spring.

The peak nutritional value occurs when the joint, or seed head, first starts to move up and form a stalk. As it moves up, the newly formed stalk grows in size. As the seed head grows, the nutritional level of the cereal grass quickly decreases. The term “cereal grass” refers to the plant before the seed head starts its journey. After that, the cereal grass is drained of nutrition. It turns brown and flag grass replaces it.

Equipment

PINES invested $4 million between 2010 and 2012, to upgrade to new, modern facilities with state-of-the-art, computer-controlled equipment.  These modern dryers use the triple pass drum drying concept developed by Charles Schnabel in the 1930s, but with great improvements. By using modern equipment and controls, we use much lower temperatures than any other producer, resulting in a much better product and 100% Organic and Non-GMO Project verified ingredients.

Our modern machines have a storage tank that can be steam cleaned. This makes them a much more sanitary version than the original design from 1948. Unlike the animal feed design, these food-grade machines keep the product stored away from dust and grease.

All our fields are within a short distance of our dehydrators. That means the process all occurs at the same location. We dry our cereal grasses and alfalfa, make them into pellets, package them in 1000 kg super sacks, and then into freezers very quickly after harvest for maximum freshness. Pelleting reduces the greens’ exposure to oxygen and light, protecting their nutritional value, concentrating nutrition, and improving storage and handling.

Certifications

PINES’s alfalfa was the first to pass all Non-GMO Project genetic tests and was the first alfalfa verified as non-GMO. That means we are the only supplier of green ingredients, with all our products both Certified Organic and Non-GMO Project verified. We can submit all paperwork so you and your customers can put both logos on labels. We also test each 1,000 kg. batch of cereal grass and alfalfa for gluten so we can help you develop FDA gluten-free products. Our products are also Certified Kosher.

USA Grown

Many new companies claiming to sell wheatgrass are popping up, and we’ve found their growing methods are not natural. Compared to wheatgrass from PINES, these products are pale green, yellow, brown, or even grey.

Some foreign growers are claiming wheatgrass growing unnaturally in a tray is no different than growing it through the winter in an appropriate climate like Northeastern Kansas. The “father of wheatgrass,” Charles Schnabel, who dedicated his life to the scientific study of these grasses from the 1930s to the 1970s, would have never considered growing wheatgrass so unnaturally for such a short period in such crowded unnatural conditions. Growing it unnaturally in trays results in a high mold and bacterial levels. Further, the nutritional levels are 25% or less than real wheatgrass.

How important is quality to your brand?

If quality is important to you and your business, please use the contact form below to source your cereal grasses from the company that was the original and still highest quality, PINES.