Posted by Annemarie de Graaff
A broccoli microgreen is a broccoli sprout about ten days old. Two little leaves, a thin stem, and nothing more. It is the stage in which the plant still carries everything it needs within itself, before it grows into the familiar green floret found in the supermarket.
We juice that sprout. That is the entire recipe.
The plant is the recipe
Most shots on the shelf are a formula. A base of juice or water, supplemented with powders, extracts, and individual nutrients, and often some apple or orange to make it drinkable. There is nothing wrong with that in itself, but you no longer know exactly what you are looking at.
We do it the other way around. We start with the whole microgreen and we take nothing out and add nothing to it. No water, no fruit, no concentrate. What you taste is broccoli, and you really taste it. Spicy, a bit sharp, green. Not everyone likes that right away. We find that more honest than masking a flavor with apple juice.
What broccoli microgreens are known for
The compound most frequently associated with broccoli in research is glucoraphanin. This is a naturally occurring plant compound from the glucosinolate group, which you find throughout the cabbage family: broccoli, Brussels sprouts, kale, arugula.
When chewed or pressed, the plant comes into contact with its own enzyme, myrosinase. That enzyme converts glucoraphanin into sulforaphane. It is precisely that process that provides the sharp, mustard-like note that you taste in a broccoli shot. That bitterness is not a byproduct — it is the plant performing its own chemistry.
What that subsequently does in a human is a question that is still being extensively researched. We make no claims about that. We prefer to tell you what is in the bottle rather than what it is supposed to do for you.
From tray to bottle
We grow our own broccoli microgreens. Seed, water, light, about ten days of time. No soil that ends up in the final product, no pesticides.
After the harvest, things move quickly:
- Pressing. Cold, without the addition of water. The press turns slowly so that as little heat as possible is generated.
- Filling. Directly into the 30 ml bottle. No intermediate step, no storage tank.
- Freezing. Within twenty minutes of pressing, the shot goes into the freezer.
Those twenty minutes are a deliberate choice. The alternatives are pasteurization, high pressure, or preservatives. All ways to make a product shelf-stable that interfere with the plant more than we would like. Freezing is simpler: you stop time instead of processing the product.
At home, you take a shot out of the freezer and let it sit for a few minutes. Or you drink it half-frozen — that makes the sharpness a lot milder. Many people prefer to start with that.
Measured, not assumed
There are nice tables on the internet about what broccoli microgreens are supposed to contain. Those are about broccoli microgreens in general, grown under conditions that are not our own.
We have our own shots independently analyzed. What comes out of that is what we communicate. Nothing more, nothing less. If a result is disappointing, that is information we can use ourselves — regarding the seed, the growing conditions, or the time of harvest.
That is slower than copying a table. It is also the only way to know what you are talking about.
Who is this shot for?
The broccoli shot is the most outspoken of the three. If you want to know what we stand for, you start here.
