Ireland - Wheat Germ

It is probably nothing special for a lot of Westerners, but it is something really new to me.

If you are not familiar with the structure of wheat in English, you'd probably think of "germ" as microorganism, as my friend did when I told her "I got wheat germ today."

The germ is actually part of the kernel of the wheat that is responsible for germination, which is to say that it contains a lot of protein and vitamins necessary for its growth.

My Suppy Chain Management professor was telling us about wheat germs in class the other day, and based on the class's response, wheat germ would be classified as something an overly healthy person or a granny would buy. And that made me curious. Does it taste that bad? And does it really help with bowel regulation? I need to test it on myself, because if this thing is more effective than eating a dozen of prebiotic yogurt and the taste is acceptable, I would definitely buy this instead of some soluble fiber sold in pharmacies whenever I have some bowel problems.

I found wheat germs in the breakfast cereal section in TESCO, next to the oatmeals. According to the instruction, you can add it to soups, breakfast cereals or even beverages. I tried mixing a tablespoon of it into a mug of hot chocolate, and it tastes perfect. However, thanks to my curious question at myself "What happens if I add a lot of these into my hot chocolate?" after drinking half a mug of my wheat-germ fortified hot chocolate, I found myself stuck in a rather uncomfortable situation.

At high dosage, I'd say about 3 tablespoons of wheat germ into half a mug of hot chocolate, I could taste bitter compounds from the beverage. Not to mention the consistency changed a lot. I felt like drinking extremely diluted oatmeal with grainy particles and a hint of chocolate. Terrible. Absolutely terrible.

My Thai housemate, also a curious individual (but much less extreme than me), tried to mix it with warm milk and she said it was delicious.

I think I'll try mixing it in soups next. Or maybe in rice!