What Are Microgreens?
Microgreens are the smallest form of a vegetable. Think the infant of baby greens. Almost any cruciferous vegetable, several flowers, and several herbs can be grown as microgreens. At Dowie MicroFarm, we produce cabbage, kohlrabi, broccoli, kale, radish, sunflower, peas, cilantro, basil, and many other specialty greens.
Why Should I Incorporate Microgreens Into My Diet?
While many of our greens are grown specifically for garnishes and flavor matching in the high-end restaurant world, such as Celosia and Red Veined Sorrel, there are many health and nutritional benefits for people when they are eaten in traditional ways. Nutrition evaluations have shown that microgreens can have up to 40% more nutrition than the full size produce of the same plant. In addition, these little greens pack an extraordinary amount of flavor. Most microgreens put the intensity of flavor of the full size produce to shame. Also, who doesn’t like some variety in their lives?
How Should I Eat Microgreens?
We recommend adding microgreens to your favorite existing foods. They are expensive to grow, so the cost per ounce can be higher than regular full-size salad greens. With microgreens, a little can go a long way. Pea Tendrils, Sunflower, or Radish make an excellent addition to an omelet. Sunflower is great all by themselves, as a snack food. Some parents even send a baggie of sunflower microgreens with their kid’s lunches. Radish, salad blend, arugula, and sunflower are excellent in wraps, on sandwiches, or hamburgers. And, no surprise, adding these to a salad is amazing. You can add more varieties of vegetables to any salad this way than almost any other realistic way. Radish can be cooked alone or in in a stir fry, it packs a spicy punch.
How Do We Grow Our Microgreens?
Our Microgreen seed is sourced from companies that only sell non-GMO, safe seed pledge seeds. All of our microgreens are grown in soil approved for organic growing in a controlled environment, year-round. We do not use any chemicals in growing, and we do not use any commercial fertilizers. Most microgreens get everything they need from seed and soil. We grow under regular fluorescent and LED lighting. These controls allow us to produce a consistent product. We never re-use soil, and we maintain strict quality controls in the grow room. All of our greens except for Peas, Basil, and Borage are rinsed in a sink full of cold salt water, air dried, packaged in a ventilated container, and refrigerated immediately.
