How to: Make your own Micro Green Salad

A few weeks ago I had an incredible salad while on business in New Zealand, consisting of microgreens.

These are a new and trendy (and utterly delicious) alternative to boring old lettuce.  Basically, they are little seedlings, harvested once the first set of leaves begins to grow.  Just the thing to grow on your window sill….

First of all I soaked the seeds overnight in water.  This helps them germinate quickly and easily.

Then I lined a couple of trays with newspaper, which I wetted.  I covered this with about 3cm of potting mix.  I scattered the seeds on top and the put another 0.5cm of potting mix on top.

Easy!

I put them on a sunny windowsill, and made sure every day they were moist.  And in a few days they had sprouted!  That’s beetroot below, and cabbage in the photo above.

It took another couple of weeks before the actual leaves appeared.  You don’t want to harvest them when they first sprout as those are the seedling leaves.  You wait until the first pair of real leaves appear (as in my photos) and then you snip them off with scissors and scoff them!

They are all beautiful and young and tiny and tender.  Delicious little leaves that melt in your mouth.  Clearly they are organic!  (I don’t spray pesticides in my kitchen, and I’m guessing you don’t in yours).

Just toss them in a little dressing and enjoy.  I used extra virgin olive oil, and a caramelised red wine vinegar.

They are unbelievably sweet, tender and tasty.  Like the salad version of candy floss!  Of course you can buy them – but where’s the fun in that?

This is such a great project to share with children.