The Jar team is back with the news episode of ingredient digest or rather say three ingredients digests in one. And yes, for this article the size does matter. Because today we are talking about greens and not so much of their types as much as of their sizes. Below explore The Jar - Healthy Vending deep dive into baby greens, microgreens and sprouts. Let’s find out which size is the right one.
First thing first to explain baby greens, microgreens and sprouts are not by any chance different species of greens. These are all just results of normal plant growth stages. Let us take spinach as an example: you start with the seed, it becomes a sprout then micro leaves start growing which later would turn into baby spinach before becoming regular 4-5 cm.
What are sprouts?
Sprouts are produced when a little soaked in water seed is starting to grow into a future big vegetable. Sprout stage is when the seed has just been germinated and grown into a few centimeters in length. Those sprouts you see everywhere in the “healthy books” and how to eat raw. Some write that there are nearly 100 times more beneficial enzymes in sprouts versus grown vegetables.
Nonetheless, in means of nutrition they are still considered less ‘healthy’ than plants harvested on the next stages.
What are microgreens?
My personal recent love is microgreens. Don’t you look at them and think “if I eat this, it doesn't even matter that I smoke”? They are also so pretty and make any dish look sophisticated. If we get back to growing this is different to sprouts as in this case the seed is put into the soil. This helps seeds to develop and get the first leaves - exactly the moment you cut them all.
These babies in some latest studies were found to have 5-6 times more nutrients than grown leaves. Sounds actually healthy, doesn’t it? I mean they are just all perfect: great taste, packed with nutrients and sexy forms. It sounds like I would rather marry those than eat them.
What are baby greens?
Baby greens are just one stage before what we call the full size greens. Back to the spinach example this would be leaves of 3-5 cm instead of 6-8. On the nutrient side there is still a big discussion if those ones are more or less healthy than their mature versions.
From a taste perspective, I mean who even eats full size spinach anyway? I always wonder why they still keep it in the supermarket when baby leaves are so much better in taste. However, you don’t fight over the tastes as they say in Russia.
So what is the size that matters?
Really, after reading and reading multiple studies on this topic even Google couldn’t give me the one and only answer. I’d go for microgreens this season as you might have already realised from above.
However, now the floor is yours to taste for yourself. The only sad thing for me was about the sprouts. I have for years thought they were the top healthiest foods in this world. Well, I found out they are more pretentious than actually healthy.
Go eat some microgreens and stay healthy 🌱
Your Jar - Healthy Vending Team
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