Where's the best place to order microgreens at a reasonable price?

I notice a lot of the recipes featured on ChefSteps includes finishing garnishes and microgreens to accent the dish. Unfortunately, I am not a professional chef and cannot afford weekly shipments of a variety of greens in my kitchen and most grocers, even in Philadelphia, don't carry microgreens. Is there anywhere online that I can purchase greens from that aren't expensive? I've found a few places that are like $12.50 for 4 oz, which, for a special occasion, is acceptable, but still extremely high, in my opinion.

Thoughts?

Find more posts tagged with

All About Ingredients

Comments

Ryan_Jones_36451

Thanks for the information. My web searches were returning much the same thing.

Brendan, would you be able to detail the process for growing microgreens in a bit more detail? What does this require other than seeds? I saw a rather expensive sprout grower on Amazon a while back, and while it interested me, I wasn't about to invest over $100 to begin my project. Can I do it without a climate controlled environment? I've seen photos of salad bar plastic containers, but I don't know where to begin. I suppose I should search google a bit, but perhaps you could provide a starting place.

Brendan_Lee_56950

All you really need is a growing medium, a container, a light, water, and something to cover the container and keep the seeds in the dark for a while.

A bunch of different materials can be used for a growing medium. A lot of people use burlap sacks that have been soaked in water, while there are other materials that are "meshy" that will allow the roots to set and retain water. An assortment can be found here: http://sproutpeople.org/supply/mediums.html

As for a container, really anything long and flat will do. I have some of those plastic planter trays that you might see at the nursery holding the individual flowers in trays. I have another that I can put over top to cover.

The basic process is to soak the medium in water to saturate it, sprinkle seeds in a single layer over top, moisten them, cover with second tray, let stand for 3-4 days to sprout (really depends on the seeds), moistening them every 12h, and then once they have sprouted putting them either in direct sunlight, or in my home I just put them under a lamp, until they grow to the size you want. I can get my mix of broccoli, radish, kholrabi, and red cabbage to about 1-1.5" in height in about 7-9days. The only real work is rotating the tray to keep them growing upright and spraying them with water everyday.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

Hmmmm.....

I've thought about producing some microgreens for sale, but I could never get a feel for how big the market may be.....not that it would need to be huge.

What's a reasonable price?

What size order?

How often?

What's a reasonable shipping fee?

I would think that Priority Mail is a possibility.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Most times, I find them in the small plastic clamshell that you would find something like alfalfa sprouts in the store in. That is usually around $4 at the farmers market and it's filled to the brim. That normally lasts myself and my wife 1 week so perfectly reasonable. The real problem is that you are kind of stuck with whatever micro-blend the farmer had that day as opposed to being able to shop for variety.

As per shipping, I think the problem is that after harvest they don't last very long unless they are kept in a properly climate controlled container/environment. The guy I buy from at the market is only there once a week and that's all he sells. Depending on where you live, priority mail can take up to 2 days I believe and I'm not sure what the limitations are for perishables.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

If they are shipped still rooted and are kept cool, they should remain fresh and usable for several days.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Rooted, yes for sure, i've never seen them sold that way before though.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

Some time ago I saw reference to them being grown on rockwool sheets and clipped as needed at the restaurant.

Brendan_Lee_56950

That's essentially what I do at home when I decide to grow them. The growing medium I use looks a lot like a mix of fiberglass and wool and about 2cm thick.

DiggingDogFarm_65362

Something very similar to this........

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apZ_RyAve7A

The cook commences clipping a bit after 5:10.

Brendan_Lee_56950

Yup, that's basically what I do, I'll snap some pics later if I remember.

#goSox

Go_Micro_MicroGreens_18677

Go here for a supermarket near you that sells microgreens https://www.facebook.com/gomicrogreens