How much $ do you pay for your Microgreens

What are microgreens??? Teeny weenie zucchini? microscopic string beans?

Grow your own in a planter in the house.

Siduri,

 

This is what they look like. Depending the bulk you need, can be very expensive.

 

I've always been confused by the word microgreens too.  In my markets you can buy boxes of organic baby spinach, baby lettuce, baby arugula, etc.  Are those microgreens?

Not quite, KK.

 

The baby greens have been growing awhile, and the plants usually have several sets of true leaves.

 

Microgreens are new sprouts in which the first set of true leaves have appeared. As Greenmotion says, they're sprouts with attitude.

 

Have you ever grown greens, root veggies like turnips, etc? If so, when you thin them the first time you are actually harvesting microgreens. To put it in perspective, a single leaf of the baby arugala would equal as much as a tablespoon of micro-arugala; depending on when they were harvested.

 

 

Micro greens usualy  Baby Romain, Arugala, Frizee, Raddichio, Baby spinach etc (varies with availability and season ).  Packed in a 3 Pound box in a plastic bag . Price varies but average about  $13=to 15 box. 1 box can yield about 40 good size portions. Sometimes called Messculin mix. At least here in Florida

 

Mini zuch and patti pan squash and mini yello squash  and baby carrots with stem. are all Hybrid mini veges. About  $9,per pound.or more. comes in 2 pound box.. No Sprouts involved at all that I know of.

They have small lettuce that has leaves the size of basil, but it;s a special breed, called valeriana (not, i think, to b e confused with the stuff they use in valerian tea)

But what we do have is tiny zucchini plants, with all the stems and leaves and inch long zucchine and flowers, takes forever to clean (but at the open air markets where they sell it, they;ll do it for you) and you just blanch it and put some olive oil and salt, and it's wonderfully sweet and delicious

I didn't know what microgreens were either. Thought it had something to do with a leafy vegetables and a microwave or so. Silly me.

I haven't seen them in any of the shops here. We can occasionally buy bean sprouts though, but they are expensive.

I buy whole mung beans from the Indian spice shop and sprout them myself. I'm a little late harvesting them sometimes and then they have their first 2 leaves. Does that make them a microgreen?

Might be worth trying some of the other ones that are mentioned in the other posts as well..

 

Over here they are mostly called "cress" and are mostly used in pro kitchens to bring color, freshness and taste to a dish. Strangely enough very young plants and certainly sprouts of plants can taste even stronger than the full grown ones. I tried sprouts of horse radish not so long ago; waaaw!

Seems to be a specialized business, but the seeds are offered at foodfairs more and more, together with dishes on which you can grow them. You have to grow them on moist cotton. People selling the seeds claim you cannot use seeds sold in garden centers, as these could be treated with all kinds of things you better not eat.

 

As a homecook you can use the new tiny leaves of garden grown plants like herbs. Looks nice on a plate!

Hope you find this interesting from the UK. These are what I use and obviously some of the names are different in the US.

 

http://www.wowmicroleaf.co.uk/homepage

 

They have a very intense flavour and can really lift a dish. The cost of these is around £3 per punnet although I could get it cheaper by going to market myself.

Most supermarkets in the UK sell microgreens  - peashoots, cress etc, including M&S and Waitrose, but they may well be seasonally available. I think I pay about 2 GBP for  a small punnet.

Microgreens are a specialized product.  I'm a grower and supply these delish microgreens to local restaurants and have developed a pretty reliable customer base at the local farmers markets.

 

Microgreens are different than sprouts as they are grown as "real" plants and harvested, I use really sharp scissors. 

 

Pricing is always an issue and would love to hear from chefs that use these what they pay before I share some of what I charge. 

Radiccio, frizee, mini romaine, baby spinach

asian greens such as Tatsoi, Mizuna, Komatsuma and mibuna are popular in Australia. A couple of others are shallots and Coriander (cilantro).

I am a grower and seller of microgreens. I sell mine $1 to $3 an ounce depending on type. I have sunflower, pea, radish, mustard, broccoli, amaranth, beet, rainbow chard, tatsoi, lemon basil, and buckwheat. I make a special mix and rainbow mix and sell each seperately. All my microgreens are available year around because I live in Hawaii where the weather is always perfect for growing microgreens and give them brighter colors and flavors than other regions.

In my restaurant we pay anywhere from 20$ for simple things like arugula, to 80$ for 2oz of certain sprouts. I wouldn't advise anyone to try to grow their own sprouts unless they know what they're doing. If a seed is contaminated by pathogenic bacteria's, you can easily catch salmonella poisoning.

I am doing research on purchasing microgreens here in the United States and was wondering.Do you pay on average of $10 per oz for microgreens such as cilantro, shiso, etc? Is there a difference in price. I would like to add microgreens to my dishes but am not sure how much I should be paying? If you can please share some insights, that would be wonderful. Thanks

Here In Ohio we have the chef's garden. They have a wonderful selection of micros, herbs, edible flowers, and more. Some of my favorites are midnight spice, citrus coriander bloom, and chive blossom,

http://www.chefs-garden.com/micros

Prices vary

I've been thinking of using micro-greens as garnish for my plating for quite some time right now, but haven't taken the steps to do so. Been meaning to ask the owner of the establishment I work for to ask their purveyor if they even sell them.

 

I found this site that seems pretty good to order from:

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/c-48-micro-greens.aspx

 

but I would definitely consider growing my own.

We are a small local grower in south MS. Microgreens are one of our most consistent crops. Our microgreens are harvested between 6 and 14 days after germination, definately not the baby green types.

 

We have regular fresh market customers, but the restaurants buy the most volume from us. The question on price is an interesting one. Our price structure ranges from $2/ounce to $6/ounce depending on the variety. We grow a variety of asian greens, radish, scallions, and various herbs (basil, cilantro, parsley, etc)

Hey Gardendoc,

 

I've been growing here in Louisiana for about a year and a half.  I've frinally (kinda of) figured out how to price.  I would like to swap notes, if you are interested.  gilescheryl3@gmail.com

I'd be happy to share info.  gilescheryl3@gmail.com