FoodChain News: Microgreens

Article written by Foodchain and distributed through their newsletter // Photos property of Vinaigrette Salad Kitchen

Five Reasons You Should Be Eating More Microgreens

Before we share the reasons why you should be eating more microgreens, let’s define what they are. Microgreens are tiny, immature versions of vegetables and herbs which are harvested when they are approximately one to two weeks old. Microgreens are not sprouts, which are germinated seeds often grown in water and harvested in just a few days. Although both are young plants, the differences in their growing and harvesting methods are important as you’ll read below.

Reason #1 – Microgreens are the Most Nutritionally Dense Foods You Can Eat

Tiny, delicate, and beautiful, microgreens are nutritional powerhouses. In a study published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry[LH1] , USDA researchers documented that microgreens packed four to forty times more nutrients that their mature counterparts.

Reason #2 – Microgreens are EASY to Use

We love microgreens because there are fool proof ingredients. No special cooking methods required. No intricate recipes. No expert knife skills need. Top your salads, sprinkle over pastas, mix in with mashed potatoes, and fold into your morning burrito. Bam! Tasty nutrition delivered. Speaking of taste…

Reason #3 – Microgreens Deliver Jacked Up Taste

Microgreens will add a lot of nutrition and flavor to your dish. Pops of spicy, sweet, peppery, pungent, floral, or fruity will make every dish more interesting and delicious. Enjoy the flavors of your favorite greens and veggies in a concentrated microgreen form.

Reason #4 – Microgreens Have a Lower Risk of Pathogens

You hear the cautions and recalls about E. coli, listeria, and other pathogens on the news and worry if your food is safe. Food contamination often occurs when there’s contact with affected soil or water. Because of the way microgreens are grown and harvested, the likelihood of contamination is much less because the part of the plant we consume does not come in contact with soil or water.

Reason #5 – Microgreens are FUN

Pretty, colorful, shapely, exotic, twisty, lovely – all adjectives we’d use to describe microgreens. Using microgreens will add pizzazz and panache to your cooking and make even your humble Tuesday night spaghetti dinner look fancy. Got kids? Great! Let them garnish their favorite foods with microgreens (you’ll be secretly adding nutrition and expanding their pallet for veggies – so fun!).

And here’s a bonus reason, Microgreens are good for the planet because they use less water and are a highly sustainable crop. Growers produce a lot of nutrition in a small space.

Should we all be adding more greens to our diet? Yes! Should we eat more microgreens? Double yes and try and stopping us! Commonly grown microgreens include radish, kale, cabbage, arugula, pea shoots, and sunflower shoots. You can buy fresh microgreens at many farmer’s markets and grocery stores. Here in Lexington, we’ve enjoyed them from Elmwood Stock Farm at the Lexington Farmer’s Market and you can buy several varieties from yours truly, FoodChain, at the Bread Box Farmer’s Market Wednesday evenings from 5-7:30PM. 

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