The History of Wheatgrass
Pines International and Ann Wigmore popularized wheatgrass in the 1970s, but it was Charles F. Schnabel in the 1930s who documented the amazing nutrition in wheatgrass. Schnabel was not alone. Other scientists, medical doctors, hospitals and health practitioners produced a significant volume of research on wheatgrass and other cereal grasses during the two decades between 1930 and 1950.
Bibliographies in books by Ann Wigmore, Viktoras Kulvinskas and other authors lists research studies using Schnabel's wheatgrass. One author, Steve Meyerowitz, in the popular, "Wheatgrass: Nature's Finest Medicine," dedicated his book to Schnabel, calling him "the father of wheatgrass."
Some proponents of growing wheatgrass in trays and drinking "shots" wheatgrass are not aware that the wheatgrass used in the research by Schnabel and other scientists was not grown in trays and was not wheatgrass juice. Schnabel used dehydrated wholefood wheatgrass powder that had been grown for as long as 200 days through the winter. The roots for Schnabel's wheatgrass reached deep into the glacial soil in northeastern Kansas near Dr. Schnabel's laboratories. Despite taking months to develop, true wheatgrass is no taller than wheatgrass grown in a tray under crowded, warm conditions for seven days, but the chlorophyll content is four times greater.