Posted by Annemarie de Graaff
Microgreens are young plants, harvested when they are about one to two weeks old. The exact duration depends on the species: our broccoli takes about nine days, wheatgrass eight to ten, and peas are allowed to grow a little longer.
At that point, the plant already has leaves and a sturdy stem, but it is far from having grown into the vegetable you find in the supermarket. It is an important intermediate phase, and that is exactly the phase we juice.
Not to be confused with sprouts
Microgreens and sprouts are often confused, but they are two different things.
Sprouts are harvested as soon as the seed has germinated. They usually grow in water, without soil and without much light, and are used in their entirety: seed, root and all. They are smaller and generally have a milder taste.
Microgreens grow for longer, with their roots in soil and under light. They are given the time to truly become a plant: to create chlorophyll, develop flavor, and build up the phytonutrients specific to their species. At harvest, we cut the plant above the root so that the soil is not included.
You can see that difference in time and light in the color and taste it in the flavor. A broccoli microgreen tastes sharp and spicy, whereas a broccoli sprout is still fairly neutral.
Why we chose microgreens
We juice one plant per shot, with no additives. That one plant needs to have something to say for itself.
In the microgreen phase, a plant is at its most chemically pronounced: it still has everything it needs and hasn't given anything away to forming flowers, pods, or ears. For us, that is the logical moment to harvest.
From seed to bottle takes about ten days. After pressing, the shot goes into the freezer within twenty minutes. This allows us to maintain maximum freshness and ensures no unnecessary nutritional value is lost.
