How to Incorporate Microgreens into Your Food
Eating greens is so important to our diet. Many times, people underestimate how good they are for you and forego the nutritious part of eating. However, Now there are a specialty produce called organic micro greens that are packed full of nutrients, even more so than the regular leafy greens. Some of the following names you may recognize and some you may not but adding organic micro greens or true leaves to salad can make all the difference in your diet.
Arugula
This micro green is a little more well known than other. It has a slight peppery taste to it and works great in sandwiches and salads as well as smoothies. It has glucosinolates, vitamin C and phenols that repel toxins which make it very beneficial to your health as well as being pretty delicious if you like healthy foods.
Basil
This is another micro green that a lot of people know about but don’t realize how good for you it is. It’s known more as an herb to season chicken and pastas but fresh basil also works well in salads. You can either use the dried basil that works better as a seasoning or fresh basil. However, the fresh basil has a lot more nutrients in it than the dried. Dried basil is more of a flavoring and doesn’t have much nutritional value.
Broccoli
Everyone knows about broccoli. You probably didn’t realize that this was one of the organic micro greens but it is! It is known a ‘cruciferous powerhouse’ and is jam packed with nutrients without the calories. There are so many things that you can use broccoli to make from itself to pesto to hummus.
Chia
This is not to be confused with chia seeds. Chia in and of itself is a plant and contains unsaturated fats, protein and tons of fiber. The seeds obviously come from the plant but the seeds themselves are not considered to be a micro green whereas the shoots are.
Clover
Clover is not often offered in salads in restaurants, mainly because it doesn’t have a lot of flavor. It offers more of a crunchy texture than flavor for the most part. It does contain a mild flavor but nothing overwhelming which makes it perfect for salads or even burgers. Clover contains calcium, zinc, iron and magnesium.
Kale
Kale is the new and trendy super food. However, it’s not just a phase, this vitamin C packed micro green is best served in smoothies or with lemon juice, dried cranberries and apples in a salad. The lemon juice will counteract the bitter taste of kale.
Peas
This refers to pea shoots, specifically. These micro greens have so much vitamin C and folic acid, just one pea shoot is equivalent to seven blueberries and eight bean sprouts. They pair well with strawberries but if you are looking for something more savory then picked onions compliment pea shoots as well.
Radish
Radish micro greens can be confusing because you don’t think of radish as being green. However, the leafy part of the radish is definitely green and has a peppery taste accompanied by large amounts of folate and B6.
Sunflower Shoots
Not many people have heard of this one, much less tried it. However, served with a creamy vinaigrette, sunflower shoots can be pretty tasty. Not only that but they are filled with amino acids, folate, B complex vitamins plus vitamin C and E as well as selenium.
All of these organic micro greens can really be beneficial to your system. There are many uses for microgreens and tons of varieties of edible flowers as well. If you aren’t fond of the tastes of any of them served raw, you could always blend them up into a smoothie with bananas, strawberries and some protein powder for the extra boost. Served this way, you get all the nutrients without any of the flavor. The smoothie might be green but the strawberry banana flavor will be stronger than anything micro green you can put in. Just give it a try, you may be surprised at how much you actually like them after all. Most micro greens don’t have a harsh taste and are just enough to add a certain element to your food that makes it go from amateur to chef worthy.