This post was most recently updated on September 15th, 2020
Supergreens powder has become all the rage. It all started with the wheat grass smoothie movement, and has carried on from there. You can make super greens at home with these easy instructions.
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A supergreens blend that you buy from the store has all sorts of added rubbish in it. If your goal is to waste less food and eat more greens in your diet, then you can make your own super greens powder at home for super cheap.
The whole point of the greens powder is that it is green, it has lots of chlorophyll and other vitamins and nutrients in it.
Super greens powders are great to add to smoothies, omelets, soups, stews and pretty much anything you can think of. I have even heard of mums sneaking greens powders in to cakes and muffins.
You can use shop bought vegetables, home grown vegetables, or even foraged greens!
Reasons to Use Super Greens Powder
You may wonder what is so good about a super greens powder, why not just use fresh leafy vegetables?
1. Super greens powder lasts longer
Powdered, dried greens are shelf stable for several years, whereas fresh plants are only good for a week, tops.
2. Super greens powder stops waste
How often have you tried to stagger your planting only to have all your plants come ready to eat at once?!
3. Perfect to make smoothies and baking with
If you have trouble getting enough greens in you or your family’s diet, then sneaking some greens powder in to their meals is a great trick!
RELATED: 10 vegetables to dehydrate that actually taste nice
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How to make Super Greens Powder at Home
1. Select your greens
Before you head to the store, check what you already have growing in your garden.
There are many weeds that are super nutritious and really good in a super greens powder! Look for chickweed, lambs quarters, purslane, plantain, dandelion, and nettles – they all pack a powerful nutritious punch.
For vegetables choose kale, collards, beet greens, chard, spinach, lettuce as well as herbs such as parsley and cilantro/coriander are great.
Also the leaves of fruiting plants like strawberry, raspberry and blueberry leaves are all tasty and good to add.
Avoid the spicier herbs like chive, garlic, thyme or sage.
You can also add non-greens to your powder – beets and carrots are loaded with goodness! You can also add cauliflower, celery and carrot leaves and other scraps from your kitchen.
2. Wash and chop
Pick your greens and remove any gross bits. Give them a good wash and remove the stalky stems.
3. Dehydrate
You can dry your green in a dehydrator following its directions. I usually do it at 40C for 4-8 hours. You want the leaves to be hard and crispy, not rubbery.
You can dehydrate your greens in the oven, set it to its lowest setting usually 150-200F/70-100C and place the leaves in a single layer on parchment lined trays.
Cook for 4-8 hours or until done. If you have a fan option on your oven, use that too, it will dry it out faster.
4. Pulverize
The most efficient way of doing this is in a Nutribullet, but a standard food processor, coffee or spice grinder, or even a mortar and pestle will work too.
5. Sieve
Pass your newly made supergreens powder through a sieve before storing it. The larger pieces you can either re-crush or add to soups or stews.
Storing Homemade Super Greens Powder
Store your homemade super greens powder in a sealed jar. If you have spare silicone sachets that soak up moisture, pop one in there too. Adding a tablespoon of uncooked rice in a small mesh bag has the same effect.
Vegetable powder made this way should store for several years before the potency will start to decline.
Troubleshooting Making Super Greens Powder at Home
Help my leaves made a thick paste not a powder!
Make sure your plants are totally dry before crushing/blitzing. All is not lost. Spread your paste out on some parchment in the oven or dehydrator and dry it some more. Another 1-2 hours hours should be enough.
Then return the powder the the nutribullet and try again.
Also, make sure the dried leaves are totally cool before you try and blend them. The heat of the warm leaves can cause condensation to happen in the food processor making the powder clump.
My leaves are still limp and rubbery!
Keep drying them, you need them to snap or crumble when you bend it. They can take up to 10 hours to be properly dry.
Help, my super greens look cooked!
Ideally you will be using a dehydrator that cannot get hot enough to cook the leaves.
If you are using the oven, and it cannot reduce it’s temperature any further, you might need to look for a different way of dehydrating your greens.
RELATED: Different ways to dehydrate vegetables
If it is burnt you will want to throw it to the chickens as it will taste very bitter.
I love the Ball canning book recipes and instructions combined with my own canners recipe book.
