Micro Greens, Another Exciting Addition to Your Kitchen Garden

Microgreens are tiny edible greens grown from vegetable or herb seeds.  They are harvested when very young – just 1-2 inches long including the stem and leaves. Microgreens can have wonderfully clear, intense flavours and they are certainly a very pretty addition to your plate, with their delicate and often colourful appearance.

mcg1

Micro greens are simply “early” versions of greens or herbs that are less than 14 days old. Small in size “micros” are exceptionally tender and intensely flavored. Specifically selected for their unique flavor or color, micros are a stunning visual and flavorful addition to almost any plate.

mcg2

Power-packed
More health experts are turning to microgreens for their nutrient value. Don’t let their size fool you; the mini leaves have more nutrients than grown leaves. In fact, a study has shown that the minis might have four-40 fold more concentration of nutrients. While sprouts contain proteins, other varieties of microgreens like young radish, has vitamin C. Red cabbage leaves have vitamin C and K and cilantro has lutein and beta-carotene. Also, young broccoli is packed with sulforaphane, a compound that is said to inhibit cancer activity in cells.

What are they?
A microgreen is that stage of a plant’s growth when its first leaves appear. These can be leaves of tiny greens, lettuces or herbs, harvested when they are young and about an inch or two tall. Microgreens are used to enhance flavour in dishes and as a visual component. They are young seedlings, so they have a fresh taste. Grown from the same seeds you use when you plant a crop, they are harvested in just a week or 10 days. They are not to be mistaken for sprouts. And once cut, you have to consume them quickly or else the colour starts to fade, the freshness decreases and it starts growing (optimum taste is when it’s between one and three inches).

Please let us know what you think.  If you have more questions, please contact Vijayalakshmi K Rao – kvlrao2@gmail.com.

Checkout for more such reads at http://www.goodseeds.in and http://www.fb.com/goodseeds.

 

Advertisement

One thought on “Micro Greens, Another Exciting Addition to Your Kitchen Garden

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s