FOOD | SEEMA
Big Punch in a Small Package Microgreens are a powerhouse of nutrients, a wellspring of health TEXT AND PHOTOS BY RASHMI GOPAL RAO
I
remember sowing ragi (finger millet) grains in little containers of soil and watching them grow as a run-up to the gollu (doll display) preparations during Dasara. It remains one of my fondest childhood memories. Once the green shoots grew to about three-fourth of an inch, we would excitedly use them to create ‘parks’ and ‘lawns’ in our gollu. The shoots, of course, would keep growing during the 10-day period of Dasara. By the end it would eclipse the little toy cars, vans and figurines we had placed between them. We would blissfully discard the greens after the festival. Well, that was when we knew little about microgreens – that the little seedlings of ragi were filled with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. All we cared about was its decorative value.
44 | SEEMA.COM | JULY 2021
VARIED AND EASY TO GROW So, what exactly are microgreens and why are they so popular? Simply put, microgreens are seedlings of herbs and vegetables, somewhere between a sprout and a baby plant. Also called microherbs or vegetable confetti, they are usually 1-2 inches tall and go directly from the pot to the plate. It is believed that microgreens were first used around the 1980s-1990s in California and since then have scaled new heights of popularity all over the world. Some of the easiest microgreens to grow are broccoli, kale, basil, amaranth, finger millet (ragi), wheat, mustard, fenugreek (methi), radish, pea shoots and arugula. These young green vegetables can be grown easily indoors – on window sills and balconies – and outdoors, whether in the kitchen garden or
