You are probably familiar with the term sprouts. But what are Microgreens?
The word Micro says it all; young seedlings of edible vegetables and herbs. Unlike mature herbs and vegetables with a typical growing cycle of weeks or months, Microgreens can be harvested and eaten a week to 10 days after planting the seeds. They can easily be grown indoors either in soil or water.
You can grow them from almost any vegetable and herb, but the best known are probably sunflower, peas, radish, beets, swiss chard, broccoli, mustard and amaranth. The ones we grow at the moment here at our Microgreens farm is sunflower, radish and peas and broccoli.
When we first learned about Microgreens, they were limited to fine dining restaurants and high end grocery stores. Luckily today, they have become accessable to everyone, and are pretty easy to grow at home, if you like to grow your own food.
Microgreens have with good reason become a very popular ad on to any dish, and provide great nutritional value, color and flavor to your food.
Benefits of Microgreens
Surprisingly enough, Microgreens are up to 40x more potent in phytochemical than the mature plant. They taste amazing and brings great color to any dish like salads, sandwiches, soup or dinner dishes.
Microgreens have a high level of antioxidants and polyphenols, and they are very rich in potassium, iron, zinc, magnesium and copper. You also get a great source of vitamins, minerals and fibers.
Researchers with the University of Maryland College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (AGNR) and the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), recently completed a study to determine the level of nutrients in Microgreens compared to their mature counterparts.
They analyzed 25 microgreens and their nutritional value. For example, red cabbage Microgreens had the highest concentration of vitamin C, and 40 times more vitamin E.
These little superfoods, Microgreens, are known to help you support your immune system, heart health and gut health, as well as lower your cholesterol.
While Microgreens are nutrient-dense, they aren’t typically viewed as a substitute for regular vegetables due to the cost and volume you’d have to eat. However, with them being so nutrient-dense compared to regular vegetables, I would say that 1-2 oz a day gives you a great nutritional boost. Check out my Food Circle here
