The Barleygreen Story

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Green Foods' Processing Captures Barley Grass Nutrients

1. Grown “Right” From the Start
BarleyGreen is organically grown and processed in Oxnard, California. Because of its unique geology, Oxnard has one of the richest topsoils in the world. The farming of Green Foods’ barley grass begins in richly composted organic soil. No pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizers are ever used. Once the soil is prepared, barley seeds are planted in rows to wait for the perfect combination of water, oxygen and temperature to sprout.

2.Harvested For Maximal Nutrition
The young barley plants are harvested just prior to the jointing stage, the time at which they are the most nutritious. The processing facility is just minutes away from the fields and the entire process from harvest to powder takes only 2-4 hours! This means that the product is fresh, allowing little time for loss of nutrients.

3. Pure Water Rinse
Immediately after delivery to our processing facility, the plants are rinsed with fresh, pure water and tumbled dry. No heat, detergents, or chemicals are ever used. This is unlike many other green products, where bleaches are often used that may leave toxic by-products on the plants.

4. Gentle Juice Extraction
The nutrition of the barley grass resides in its juice, not the insoluble fiber. The juice is separated from the tough, fibrous outer leaf using a gentle, low-pressure extraction process. The delicate plant cells and nutrients are protected from destruction while the insoluble fiber is returned to the field for composting.

5. Oxygen Removal
Plant juices, left on their own, will begin to oxidize and within hours many important nutrients will be lost. Using a vacuum evaporation system, the green barley juice is concentrated and protected from oxidation by removing excess oxygen and water. The next stop for the freshly extracted juice is in one of four refrigerated 1,200 - gallon stainless steel tanks. Organic maltodextrin, a complex carbohydrate derived from corn and treated with enzymes, is added to coat and protect the enzymes and other molecules so they will not chemically react with each other. After drying, these carbohydrates form a protective matrix around the juice particles to keep oxygen away from the proteins and other delicate nutrients.

6. Spray Drying: the Most Important Step
The most critical step is the drying process since many nutrients can be easily lost to heat and oxidation during this stage. The concentrated green barley grass juice is pumped through an atomizer and spun dry in warm air so that the juice particles do not exceed body temperature.

7. Granulated for Solubility
The bulk powder is put through a granulation process where the fine powder is transformed into larger, uniformly-sized granules making it easier to dissolve when mixed with water or other liquids.

8. Quality Control
Each lot is inspected at different stages of production for taste, solubility, pH, protein, chlorophyll, and microbial content. In addition, nutritional analyses and other quality assurance tests are performed by independent offsite laboratories.

The Difference Processing Makes

• Organic cultivation
• Rapid processing
• Gentle juice extraction.
• Insoluble fiber is removed.
• Juice is spray-dried to protect the nutrients and enzymes.
• The powder is granulated for solubility.

Cold Water Test for Fiber

1. Mix powders in test tubes filled with cold water, stir and leave sit for 10 minutes.
2. Barleygreen stays in solution, while other powders with insoluble fiber will settle to the bottom.

Hot Water test for Enzymes

1. Mix powders in test tubes filled with hot water.
2. The proteins in Barleygreen clump up because they are intact proteins; other dissolves proteins are already denatured. Enzymes are proteins and exhibit activity only if they contain intact proteins.