As I may perhaps have mentioned in my previous post I have recently acquired a passion

 for all things microgreen

So devilishly small and tasty they are.

Tiny in fact.

Yet so very tasty. Mmmmm… do they pack a punch – in both flavor AND nutrition, as it turns out. Honestly, I ate mounds of them simply because I found them delicious, but when I went on to discover just how loaded with nutrients they are, well, I suppose I just kinda flipped!

Truth be told I’ve always held deep reserves of energy.

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To be honest I just really do not know where I get all my energy from, all I can say is that I am so thankful for having benefiitted from such a fortuotus start in life in being raised by a mother who  instinctively fed our little family a wonderful diet of delicious home cooked ‘traditional’ English food, all the time working a full time job. Granted we didn’t know much about ‘nutrition’ back then, but day-in day-out she filled our bellies with full-square-meal after full-square-meal. Of course most, if not all the delicious dinners, teas, suppers and breakfasts quite naturally included all manner of vegetables, as in ‘meat and two/three veg‘ depending on whether it was Sunday.

Consequently I was fortunate to grasp, at a very young age, the vital connection between health, diet, and exercise, taking conscious decisions to assume control of my physical well being by keeping fit, active and energetic – a path in life I have followed to this day.

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And so, imagine my surprise when I stumbled across a food that quite knocked me for six. There was me thinking I knew about all these sorts of things; what’s good for you and what’s not. I knew very well the benefits that vegetables bring, so how did these trendy little micros slip my notice, until now?

Perhaps that’s it. Perhaps I simply dismissed them as just that; a trendy fad. I must admit they do lack a certain kerbside appeal once cut, washed, aired and packed. But microgreens are not about looks despite their silly “garnish” reputation (wotawaste). What they bring to the table, for those interested in a regular source of highly nutritious food that tastes superb, is a delicious injection of flavor, texture (yes, they’re crunchy too!) along with massive amounts of nutrients… any time you wish.

Where and how to use microgreens? “Any how and anywhere” you wish; including, but not limited to burritos, wraps, sandwiches, salads. Toss them in a bowl for one, add a few goodies, or just add a few drops of olive oil, perhaps a dash of grated Parmesan, an olive or two,  a diced anchovy? Twirl them with a fork, and dig in. You can eat them like noodles. In fact, you’d be amazed just how versitile they are in the kitchen, and how easy they are to handle. I’ll expand on this in later posts, but for now I think I’d better explain just how I came to be so downright hooked on these lovely, tiny, adorable little greens.

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Microgreens first barreled into my life earlier this year as a result of efforts to discover just where all the sprouts had gone from our supermarket shelves? Remember (those old enough) when big voluminous mountains of alfalfa were practically ubiquitous? Well one day for some reason I developed a hankering for a big-hunking doorstopper of a 1970’s sandwich; you know the kind, all cream cheese, avocado and mounds and mounds of billowing sprouts.

Turns out… all those murky root masses hidden-in with all the nice green leaves were causing people…. well, to die.

Admittedly most sprout victims did survive the ordeal, merely to suffer the acutely painful symptoms associated with food poisoning, but what I have discovered with microgreens is a new way to have all the goodness of sprouts, minus the potentially fatal consumer-killing bacteria potentially lurking around the discarded seed casing and long, stringy roots.

With microgreens all the lovely crunchy-munchy scrunchy goodness of sprouts is delivered by harvesting only the tippy-top of each plant, leaving the roots and all the gunky stuff behind. The resulting emerald green tips being not only 100 percent safe to eat without fear of contamination, but tiny little microgreen that they are – compared to old-fashioned sprouts, are much, MUCH tastier!

AND (this is the important part) they won’t kill you, I promise. It won’t even hurt you to try them. Who knows, they really could change your life. They have mine. I’m even beginning to detect the exact same response from more than a few of those who have tried them. These tiny little greens really can and will change your life. Really!

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I’ve always really loved the taste, texture and zing of fresh baby greens, and only this summer discovered a way to grow bunches of the stuff with my Green Pallets project ↓

Nothing quite prepared me however for just how incredibly intense these microgreens would prove to be, and the almost immediate lift, or energy they bestow.

“One bite and you’re smit.”

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And so, here are a few nutrition facts as presented by Health With Food Website:

Scientific research now proves that these tiny seedlings harvested and eaten when they are just a few inches tall are a real superfood packed with antioxidants and other health-promoting nutrients.

Source: http://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/microgreensnutrition.php#ixzz3rhWh5O7X

Nutrition Fact 1 Microgreens Provide More Nutrition Than Mature Leaves

A study published in the Journal of American Society for Horticultural Science reported that young lettuce seedlings, harvested 7 days after germination, had the highest antioxidant capacity as well as the highest concentrations of health-promoting phenolic compounds, compared with their more mature counterparts. They (also) discovered that in general microgreen cotyledon leaves had considerably higher nutritional densities than their mature counterparts (cotyledon leaves refer to the embryonic first leaves of a seedling). This large-scale microgreen study was published in the August 2012 issue of the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Source: http://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/microgreens-nutrition.php#ixzz3rhXe6DOy

Nutrition Fact 2 Vitamin C is Abundant in Microgreens

Young edible seedlings are a superb source of vitamin C, an antioxidant that helps protect your body from the harmful effects of free radicals. The 2012 study on microgreens reported that even the microgreen sample that had the lowest levels of vitamin C contained a whopping 20 milligrams of vitamin C per 100 grams – that’s almost twice the amount of vitamin C found in tomatoes! Red cabbage microgreens had the highest levels of vitamin C among the tested varieties, with a 100-gram portion providing 147 milligrams – or 245% of the daily value – of this vital nutrient. For comparison, an equal-sized serving of mature raw red cabbage contains 57 milligrams of vitamin C according to data provided by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Source: http://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/microgreens-nutrition.php#ixzz3rhY1ygww                                  

 Nutrition Fact 3 Many Microgreens Are Loaded With Beta-Carotene

Carotenoids, such as beta-carotene, are thought to reduce the risk of disease, particularly certain types of cancer and eye disease. Carrots are famous for being rich in beta-carotene, but turns out that many microgreens are also a good source of this important nutrient. In fact, some microgreens appear to contain even more beta-carotene than carrots: 12 milligrams per 100 grams compared with 8 milligrams in boiled carrots, according to the 2012 study. The researchers who analyzed the beta-carotene content of microgreens found that these super-nutritious greens also provide other carotenoids such as lutein and zeaxanthin.

Source: http://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/microgreens-nutrition.php#ixzz3rhXCOmMQ

Nutrition Fact 4 Microgreens Are a Good Source of Vitamin E

A microgreen study found substantial amounts of tocopherols in the tested greens. The amount of alpha-tocopherol and gamma-tocopherol combined ranged from 7.9 to 126.8 milligrams per 100 grams, with green daikon radish microgreens scoring the highest value in this analysis. For adults, the recommended daily allowance for vitamin E is 15 milligrams of alpha-tocopherol, meaning that eating just a small amount of daikon radish microgreens would cover your daily requirement for this important antioxidant vitamin.

Source: http://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/microgreens-nutrition.php#ixzz3rhYPchZS

Nutrition Fact 5 Micros Contain Vitamin K

Vitamin K functions as an electron acceptor when chlorophyll – abundant in all green plants including microgreens – absorbs sunlight to produce carbohydrates and oxygen during photosynthesis.

Vitamin K also offers health benefits for humans by promoting normal blood clotting and preventing excessive bruising. Vitamin K also plays an important role in maintaining strong and healthy bones.

Source: http://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/microgreens-nutrition.php#ixzz3rhYtcU5h

Nutrition Fact 6 Reap the Health Benefits of Microgreens

To reap the health benefits of microgreens, eat them immediately after harvest. Microgreens, like most other superfoods that are consumed fresh, begin to lose their nutritional value after harvest.

Source: http://www.healwithfood.org/health-benefits/microgreens-nutrition.php#ixzz3rhZYzJYA

    

 AND NOW

It gives me great pleasure to introduce…

Emerald GREENS  

eat well live well

  “It’s CRUNCH Time Folks”     

Fresh Local  Microgreens for the Roaring Fork Valley

Aspen to Carbondale

each

Tuesday and Friday

throughout the calendar year, rain, shine or snow!

“Always cut washed aired weighed bagged…. on day of delivery!”

please email emeraldmicrogreens@gmail.com for Details

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we ship too !

Pack them into sandwiches. Heap them into mounding salads, or roll them into crispy crunchy Giant WRAPS. Eat them as you would cold noodles, with a fork, all curled up in your favorite spot.

“Eat them to your heart’s content.”

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Until next time, enjoy life, grow some food,

& get yourself out there!

thanks for stopping by

MäℜΤ¡∩

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