Nature's Superfoods

Sprouts and microgreens are an easy way to add texture and freshness to any dish. They are easy to grow, you can harvest them year-round from the comfort of your kitchen, and they are healthy and delicious.

Microgreens

Often called ‘vegetable confetti’– are a healthy, colourful and delicious alternative to sprouts. Halfway in size between sprouts and baby greens, they are usually harvested within two weeks of sowing. They are commonly grown in seedlings or hydroponic trays and differ from sprouts in that they are harvested above the seed with a pair of scissors when there are two or more true leaves.

Microgreens provide texture and colour to a dish as a garnish and vibrant colour when used in a salad. Some exciting varieties include amaranth, basil, chervil, coriander, garland chrysanthemum and rocket. We also love the seed packet range of microgreens from Mr Fothergill’s with exotic flavours from around the world.

Grow microgreens in a seedling tray filled with a thin layer of potting mix or hydroponically in the specially designed microgreen growing tray.

Top Tips for Growing Microgreens

• Remember to keep the seeds moist – if you use a microgreen growing tray, spray seeds with a fine mist of water until the roots develop in a few days. You can cover your tray between watering to reduce evaporation.
• Feed the plants with a half-strength liquid fertiliser to encourage rapid growth.
• Harvest just before serving for maximum freshness and flavour.

Sprouts

Sprouting is possibly the most straightforward form of growing your fresh produce, and it also provides speedy results with crops ready to harvest in as little as four days. Often hailed as one of nature’s super foods, sprouts are highly nutritious and packed with enzymes and powerful proteins.

Sprouts are effectively the first stage of development in a plant’s life cycle. Tasty and succulent, they make ideal additions to fresh salads, sandwiches, and cooked meals such as stir-fries.

Commonly, sprouts are grown hydroponically (in water, without soil), so you can eat the entire plant with root, seed and all – maximising the intake of nutrients available.

Mr Fothergill’s Sprouts Alive seeds are food grade and are guaranteed to grow, so try them in a jar, bag or fuss free in the Mr Fothergill’s Kitchen Seed Sprouter.

Top Tips for Growing Sprouts

• Rinse the seeds at least twice a day.
• Do not overfill the container with seed.
• Harvest within a week of sowing.
• Use only sprouting seeds that are safe for consumption.

For more information go to www.mrfothergills.co.nz

To grow your sprouts in a jar is super simple.

What you will need:

• Cheesecloth
• Rubber band
• Sprout seeds
• Preserving jar
• Storage container with lid or food storage bag
• Paper towel

• Wash 1–2 tablespoons of the seeds and place in a clean, sterilised jar. There will still be a lot of space in your jar, but it will expand. Don’t fill the seed any higher than quarter of the jar.
• Cover the seed with approximately 5 cm of warm water. Cover the jar with the cheesecloth and secure it with the rubber band. Allow the jar to sit overnight.
• The next day tip the jar upside down to drain. You can use a fine mesh strainer if you don’t have cheesecloth.
• The following day, add new water to the jar, swishing the seed around. Reapply the cheesecloth and rubber band, and then drain again.
• Find an area out of direct sunlight and place the jar upside down at an angle. This helps with air circulation and the removal of excess water. You can put the jar against a wall with a towel underneath or in a bowl.
• Repeat steps 4 and 5 every day until your sprouts are the desired size (approx. 3–7 days depending on the sprout variety).
• To store, rinse the seeds one final time, and then dry and store them in a covered bowl for up to a week in the fridge. It’s a good idea to put a paper towel in your container to soak up any extra moisture when storing, and this paper towel should be changed every few days.