Microgreens — the full load of nutrients

As soon as vege­ta­ble and herb seed­lings have deve­lo­ped the first young and ten­der lea­ves, they can be har­ve­s­ted as micro­greens. At this stage, the plants are packed with nut­ri­ents and vital sub­s­tances. From the­se they get up to 40 times more than adult vegetables.

In addi­ti­on to vit­amins and mine­rals, micro­greens con­tain many secon­da­ry plant sub­s­tances such as car­bo­hy­dra­tes, pro­te­ins and fats, which have a health-pro­mo­ting effect on the human body. The­se are also cal­led phy­to­che­mi­cals and pro­tect, for exam­p­le, against pests or UV light, ful­fill signal func­tions or form scents, colors and flavors.

Each plant deve­lo­ps its own uni­que sub­s­tances. So far, around 100,000 dif­fe­rent secon­da­ry plant sub­s­tances have been iden­ti­fied, of which around 5,000 to 10,000 ser­ve as human food. In phar­ma­cy, too, num­e­rous drugs are crea­ted with phy­to­che­mi­cals as a basis.

The­re are che­mi­cal­ly dif­fe­rent groups of secon­da­ry plant sub­s­tances:
Poly­phe­nols, caro­te­no­ids, phy­t­oes­tro­gens, glu­co­si­no­la­tes, sul­fi­des, monoter­pe­nes, saponins, pro­tease inhi­bi­tors, phy­to­ste­rols and lectins.

Accor­ding to cur­rent stu­dies, many of the­se sub­s­tances can pro­tect against various types of can­cer, have anti­hy­per­ten­si­ve, anti-inflamm­a­to­ry, anti­bac­te­ri­al and neu­ro­lo­gi­cal effects. Stu­dies are dis­co­ve­ring many inte­res­t­ing new pro­per­ties of phytochemicals.

Sin­ce micro­greens are eaten raw, no valuable sub­s­tances are lost through hea­ting. They keep their full, inten­se tas­te and gar­nish favo­ri­te dis­hes with their strong colors: from light to dark green, or dark red to violet

The cul­ti­va­ti­on takes place ver­ti­cal­ly, in clo­sed rooms and is pos­si­ble all year round, regard­less of the wea­ther. This saves 80% cul­ti­va­ti­on area and uses 90% less water. Good soil, good seed, water and light, that’s all it needs.