Transcription
Hey friend, in your quest to eat healthier, you may have been drawn to so-called superfoods, microgreens being one of them. And in this process, you've been caught up in one big hoax. I'm saddened to admit that I may have played a part in this, so I feel it's time to come clean. Let me explain how this affects you as a consumer and what we can do about it.
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Now, a quick Google search for "how to make money selling microgreens" brings up countless videos of people claiming to make lots of money selling tiny plants. Not from a massive garden, but rather a spare bedroom, their garage, basement, or even just a closet. They also boast that it does not require but a few hours a week. Really? The only equipment they need is a spray bottle and a pair of scissors. Even a typical gardener needs an array of garden tools, a tiller, maybe even a wheelbarrow. A farmer needs massive equipment and a huge labor force. So, if it's that easy to start with minimal equipment and supplies and not much labor involved, why do microgreens cost so much?
I've been growing microgreens for about 10 years and uploading videos for almost eight. Over that time, I keep getting some of the same questions, which shows me there are huge misunderstandings out there about microgreens. Some of them purposely regurgitated over and over, basically for the benefit of the microgreen growers, not yours. If you've ever shopped for microgreens or tried to grow your own, a lot of questions probably popped into your head. And today, we're going to pull back the curtain on the secretive microgreen community and answer all of the questions that have been haunting you.
A lot of people have blindly accepted what has been taught to them and end up paying up to $50 a pound for these tiny plants. Others struggle with growing their own because they've been taught a tedious process that goes against nature by cramming thousands of seeds together in a tiny tray. If the process is tough and the product is desirable, the perceived value goes up. It's a brilliant marketing strategy carried out by the entire microgreen growing community.
Some of the questions we'll delve into include: Where do microgreens come from? Is a microgreen really a superfood? Is a microgreen seed different from a normal seed? Is a microgreen just a sprout? Why does this little thing cost so much? And most importantly, what can we do about it?
The term "microgreen" did not even start until 1992. Sprouts, on the other hand, have been around for centuries. Did microgreens magically appear? Were people throughout history eating roots, seeds, sprouts, stems, leaves, flowers, and fruit, but somehow missed the microgreens? No. So, what is a microgreen?
To understand the connection between microgreens and traditional plants, it's helpful to consider the plant's life cycle. When a seed is planted, it absorbs water and it begins the process of germination. During that time, the seed swells, splits open, and starts to grow. The first visible signs of life are the sprout and the cotyledons. Those are the seed leaves that provide the energy for the young plant. Microgreens are harvested at this early stage, typically between 7 and 14 days, somewhere in between the cotyledons and the first set of true leaves. At this point, the plant is small and tender. If left to grow, the same seedling would continue its journey, developing a sturdy stem, more leafy greens, or even flowers and fruit. This is what I do over and over in what we call the continuous harvest system. Thus, microgreens represent an early phase in the plant's life cycle. They are not a distinctive type of plant, but a specific growth stage. Basically, like you have an egg, a chick, and then a chicken, maybe then to dinner.
Now, despite the rising popularity, some misconceptions persist about microgreens and the seeds used to grow them. One common myth is that special seeds are required to grow microgreens. In reality, the only requirement is that the seeds are clean and untreated. Seeds serve as a starting point for every plant, whether it's destined to be harvested as a microgreen, a leafy green, or a towering flowering plant. A packet labeled "microgreen broccoli seeds" is identical to one labeled "garden broccoli seeds." The distinction is not the seed itself, but in its intended purpose. Companies sometimes market specifically for microgreens, but this is largely a matter of convenience. These seeds are often sold in larger quantities and should be untreated or organically certified, making them suitable for quick growth and raw consumption. However, any seed can technically be used to grow microgreens, provided it hasn't been treated with chemicals unsuitable for early harvesting.
So, the difference is not the seeds, but the process. Unlike traditional seeds that are going to take months to grow a plant, you'll be harvesting and eating a microgreen seed within a few weeks. If there's anything funky on the seed, there's a good chance you could be consuming it. So, for that reason, you don't want to use traditional seeds for your microgreens. So, make sure the seeds you get are from a qualified seller who makes sure that they are treated in accordance with government regulations. Now, as far as I can see, this testing does not significantly raise the cost of the seeds, as you can buy microgreen seeds in bulk at cheaper or comparable prices in relation to traditional seeds.
The next question is, is it a superfood? Maybe that explains the high price. According to the FDA, there is no definition for "superfood." It's just a word that was made up. My guess, it all started with kale. For decades, parents were telling kids to eat their spinach. Up until 2009, kale in the USA was mainly treated as garnish. It was used to make dinner plates and buffets look pretty, and then it was discarded. It was extremely cheap at the grocery stores. Rebranding it as a superfood had everyone putting it in smoothies and baking kale chips. The price soared while the cost of production was still the same. Kale never changed; perception and eating habits did.
The next "lowly" food was the smelly brussels sprout, tiny mushy cabbages. After some marketing, people were now roasting them and smothering them with bacon, mustard, and balsamic vinegar. Brussels sprouts became sexy, especially when deep-fried. After that, every exotic fruit, nut, or berry that the general public had never heard of became referred to as superfoods: açaí, goji berries, hemp seed, quinoa, list goes on and on. So, if those new plants are superfoods, that implies that they're better than the traditional foods. Then why is a microgreen of those traditional plants referred to as a superfood? Do they lose their super abilities as they mature?
You've probably heard from microgrowers, myself included, boast that some, not all, microgreens have up to 40 times the nutrient value compared to the mature versions. We always like to throw out the highest value, the best one. What we always fail to mention is that's by weight. Now, it's not unheard of to sit down and eat 8 ounces of broccoli. But 8 ounces of typical microgreen is an entire 10x20 tray. That's a lot of microgreens. Now, most people are just tossing on a tiny handful on their meal or sprinkling it on as garnish, like we used to do with the kale. In my opinion, they're a healthy addition to a well-balanced meal, not a so-called superfood.
So far, a microgreen is basically a sprout. It's easy to grow, and you can grow it just about anywhere. And there's more: they take little time, just like sprouts. A gardener or farmer spends weeks to months growing a product. Along that time, any number of things can happen, from pests to disease to erratic weather. Most crops are grown during two seasons: spring and fall. If something happens, usually there's no time to start over again, and they end up waiting until the next season, totally devastating for most farmers. The microgreen farmer, on the other hand, can have everything go to waste, such as crops damping off, and they can start over immediately. They can have another crop ready to go to market in a week or two.
You're probably beginning to see why this is referred to as such a lucrative market: easy and low-cost to start, easy to maintain, highly desirable product. By blanket marketing all microgreens as superfoods, they can be grown in tiny space and are market-ready in 7 to 10 days. On top of this, there's no fertilizer involved. That is a major expense for farming and gardening, whether it's commercial nutrients or natural compost. Maybe these microgreens aren't worth $50 a pound.
There's a few more reasons some growers give to justify the cost. You need soil, which is either discarded and leaves them having to buy more soil with each crop, or it's composted, which takes a lot of time and labor to reuse it. The other is they claim it's not as easy as it looks. You have to tend to your microgreens several times a day. Miss a few waterings, and you lose entire crops or a few trays in your bedroom closet. The other is you have to wait your microgreens to get strong roots, so they put massive blocks of cement on each tray day in and day out. Moving cement blocks? Who wants to do that in their kitchen?
That's where I come in. My mission is to make the whole process as easy as possible. Everyone will know microgreens are just tiny plants. I'm experimenting on several soilless growing methods. I'm also using clay pebbles and sand, which are reusable much faster than soil. I don't weight any of my microgreens, nor does nature. They're forcing a plant to do what it naturally does not want to do. Think about it: does a farmer weight down his entire field with cement blocks laying everywhere? As far as having to baby them several times a day, I'm working on several self-watering systems, making it basically a "set it and forget it" way to grow.
When people see that microgreens are healthy plants, not superfoods, and that they're easy to grow, the only thing microgreen growers will be saving you is a little time, not months to grow a vegetable. They're saving you a few minutes to set up and about a week of waiting, maybe. Then the mystery around microgreens is dissolved, and the price will come down, making a good food product more available to everyone. Maybe the growers will stop boasting about making thousands of dollars for a few hours of work. As more people learn to grow their own microgreens, demand for the high-priced product goes down, and the price will drop. Who knows, maybe the entire industry will fade away as everyone learns that with few seeds, a container from the recycling bin, and a little time, microgreens are an easily accessible food that can be part of anyone's well-balanced diet, not just the chosen few who can afford them.
So, let's teach the world how to grow their own food. We don't even need to call them microgreens. We'll plant a seed and grow some food and live to inspire. Keep on growing and be the change. We'll catch you next time.
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