Micro Greens & Sprouts

Microgreens are tiny leafed vegetables. Microgreens are just baby vegetable plants, used as greens. They are beyond sprouts stage, and are harvested when less than two inches tall. Some call them "vegetable confetti."

Commonly grown varieties of microgreens include: Amaranth, Arugula, Beets, Basil, Cabbage, Celery, Chard, Chervil, Cilantro, Cress, Fennel, Kale, Mustard, Parsley, Radish, and Sorrel. Several varieties can be mixed together to create combinations of tastes, textures and colors. The crops used for microgreens usually do not include lettuces because they are too delicate and wilt easily. Both baby greens and microgreens lack any legal definition. The terms "baby greens" and "microgreens" are marketing terms used to describe their respective categories.


Health Claims

There are many Internet sites that claim superior nutritional benefit from eating microgreens. As outlined in an article, Fresh Origins points out that most of these have not been backed up by scientific nutritional analysis. We need to be cautious about calling microgreens the next "wonder" food.


Why?

So why the interest in microgreens? For one the flavors of these small plants are almost explosive. You can enjoy a dazzling array of new flavors. Plants are at their absolute peak of flavor intensity at the microgreens stage of life.

The greens are easy to grow indoors, in a greenhouse or in a garden. Some refer to microgreens as the perfect counter-top gardening.

Chefs favor microgreens as a garnish, but these plants are versatile enough to be used as a sandwich topper, salad, in a soup or as a centerpiece to a main dish.


Growing Microgreens

Often microgreens are grown in trays with the seeds being dense enough to fill the tray with greens (as in the first image in this post). Many plants will grow fine with a mesh or fiber bedding and water. You can place around 2 cups of slightly acidic water in a tray with your seeds. Keep them in the dark for several days, and then expose them to light to green up for harvest.. A few plants do best with actual soil, such as sunflower, buckwheat, pea, cilantro and beet.

Various crops will be ready for microgreen harvest from 10 days to several weeks. You can experiment with the size of greens you prefer, and harvest as you desire. Since the plants will continue to grow, you have a range of sizes to choose from.

Sunflower, buckwheat, beet and pea all need to be pre-soaked in cold water.  Each should be soaked for 6 to 8 hours, except for beet seeds which should only be pre-soaked for an hour or two.

Amaranth, Bok Choi, and arugula do not like full sun. They do best with indirect light.


Sprouts

Sprouts are germinated seeds and are typically consumed as an entire plant (root, seed, and shoot), depending on the species. For example, sprouts from almond, pumpkin, and peanut reportedly have a preferred flavor when harvested prior to root development. Sprouts are legally defined, and have additional regulations concerning their production and marketing due to their relatively high risk of microbial contamination compared to other greens. Growers interested in producing sprouts for sale need to be aware of the risks and precautions, and oversight required by the FDA.


Resources

• Food Safety with Sprouts (pdf)
• Microgreens: A New Specialty Crop (web)
• Seeds for Sprouts (web order)