Micro Bombs of Nutrition
From Michelin star plating to a celebrity’s salad bowl, Microgreens have found their premium space in the latest super food trends. In fact no five star buffet set up today is complete without a beautiful microgreen display. They have become fashionable for their high nutrition value, intense flavours, tender texture, vibrant colours and freshness. A small portion of microgreens contains much higher levels of vitamins and nutrients as compared to their mature counterparts. Hence most of us who are health conscious are looking for reliable sources to include these in their every day plate. But what if I tell you that they are the easiest thing to grow at home especially in summers. And not only will the home grown be super fresh and healthy but also a pure delight on your kitchen window sill.
What are Microgreens?
Microgreens are like young seedlings of an edible plant that include the developed cotyledons including the first true leaves. They may shoot up from densely sown seeds of herbs, vegetables or leafy greens. Some of us confuse them with sprouts but these are actually a stage between sprouts and baby greens. Sown in shallow containers either in soil or any moist medium they are generally harvested within a week to fortnight depending on size and season of the seeds. That is to say that smaller seeds like fennel or mustard are much faster to grow than sunflower or cucumber and growth in summers is relatively faster than slow winters.
Spoilt for Choices
The tiny greens add a dash of exotic power of nutrition and style in countless ways. Go ahead and spruce up your salads, soups, stir-fries, vegetables juices, fruit smoothies or sandwiches. The versatile green confetti can be sprinkled as garnish, plated as a side in any meal bowl. And if you are an innovative cook you may, grind it into a pesto or add to your main dishes for that specific intense flavour. Almost all edible seeds can be easily grown as microgreens. From beans and lentils, herbs and spices to leafy vegetables you are spoilt with choices when it comes to variety of flavours as well as the flexibility of use.
How to Grow Microgreens?
Growing microgreens can be overwhelming for new comers though once you get a few basics right, it can be really fun and easy. Surely the art needs constant care and regular monitoring but rest assured, the process is quite simple and the steps below are a perfect hand holding for you to get this right in first try.
- Select and arrange variety of seeds you want to grow. Prefer saved seeds from the garden or from the kitchen. If buying online or store be sure you select specifically microgreen seeds and not the regular chemically quoted ones.
- Thick seeds like lentils and beans can be soaked overnight for faster sprouting.
- Take a shallow container with 1-2” inches height. You may reuse disposable plastic boxes or trays, a shallow earthen pot or flat plastic pots available online.
- Fill each with organic soil mix or moist coco peat or layers of moist muslin cloth or absorbent paper. You can also grow micro greens directly on coir mats.
- Broadcast a thin layer of seeds chosen but closely.
- Cover with a thin layer of soil or alternate medium on top of seeds and spray water.
- Leave in a dark airy spot for 3-4 days or until the seeds sprouts.
- Once sprouted uncover, spray water and shift it to a place with indirect sun like window sill.
- Once it starts growing it will need spraying water 2-3 times a day to keep it moist. Alternately you can grow microgreens in sieve and place it on top of a bowl of water. This will reduce watering.
- Within a fortnight the lush green canopy will be ready to harvest.
- Use a sharp scissor to snip a little above the soil for a rich harvest to use. Better to give a good spray some minutes before harvest as they are quite delicate to wash under running water.
- If growing in soil the left over can be composted within the soil and reused.
Once you start your journey on growing microgreens, they will be more than addictive and there is surely going to be no looking back. And when you fall short of gifting ideas you may easily make them as return favours for a party or gift them as ‘get well soon bouquets’. And remember this is one small step towards green living as this small tray of micro greens gives you more food in terms of nutrition using minimum resources in terms of space, water and soil.
