The Idiot's Guide to Microgreens!

By Jordan Freytag

You may have heard of microgreens or seen them on a dish that you’ve received at a restaurant, but what exactly are microgreens?

This simplest way to put it is they are your favorite vegetable plants such as cabbage, radish, broccoli, swiss chard, and peas—only they are grown in flats and harvested at a very young stage. You are left with fresh, crunchy, and colorful produce that often contains the same flavor as their full-grown vegetable counter-part and are used to bring new life to the same old tired meals. Microgreens can be grown any time of year if you have enough light—artificial or natural—and they don’t take up a lot of counter-top space.

Keep in mind that not all garden vegetable seed varieties are suitable for microgreening. These include tomatoes, cucumbers, and other seeds in the nightshade family. Also, certain seed varieties that ARE suitable will perform better than others. That is why we’ve chosen to refer to certain varieties as “microgreens seeds”. Some varieties will just naturally produce a better microgreen and they are the ones we have listed as such. Our absolute favorite microgreen seed varieties with be marked as “chef’s choice” with this icon: (insert icon here).

Now that you know a little more about microgreens, what do you do with them?

They best way to start understanding how their flavor and color can improve your dishes, start adding them to your salads and or sandwiches. Microgreens have gained popularity over the last decade as chefs included them in their dishes. This increasing culinary popularity have led to microgreens being included as ingredients on cooking shows.

Here are two recipes that can guide you through using microgreens in your kitchen—and hopefully show you just how easy it can be:

Microgreen Caprese Toss
Ingredients:

• 4 Fat tomatoes – preferably heirloom.
• 1 ½ red onion
• ¾ - 1 cup of ciliegine mozzarella (small balls of mozzarella)
• Harvested 5”x5” section of basil microgreens—or more depending on taste.
• Balsamic Vinegar

Dice tomatoes and red onions. Toss tomatoes, red onions, mozzarella and microgreens in a bowl and add balsamic vinegar to taste. Serve alongside main course.

Microgreen Taco Topping
Ingredients:

• 5”x5” China Rose Radish Microgreens
• 5”x5” Wasabi Mustard Microgreens
• 5”x5” Cilantro Microgreens
• 1 lime or ½ lemon

Harvest all 5x5 tray of microgreens and toss the greens together. Next squeeze your citrus over it and place on top of any taco or sandwich you want to improve.