By: Hettie Basil Lighttower
Microgreens, sprouts and krauts, oh my! Well, how was your St. Patrick’s Day? Green, I hope! I trust you didn’t forget to wear the green and that you didn’t get pinched! There are always pranksters lurking and just waiting for this one day of the year to get by with the “acceptable” nefarious pinch; who feel great to have been on the hunt successfully to inflict that annoying pain and get by with it. You know who they are…. spouses, siblings, cousins, so called friends etc…. whew….. I came out unscathed this year thanks to the shiny green ribbon in my hair.
But my St. Patrick’s day was a little extra special because I was invited to partake in homemade Reuben sandwiches and lamb stew at a friend’s house. Both are great traditional Irish dishes. It was a small, quaint gathering of common friends. I wasn’t sure if I even liked the sandwich. I hadn’t had one in eons. I like corned beef very much, sauerkraut, yes, and rye… yes! I’m not much for dressings and sloppy goop on my sandwiches! Haha, yes I am a weirdo. No condiments, please! Thus I have been avoiding Reubens most of my life after the first over sauced one I had. But guess what? I did it anyway. I stretched my mind a little and didn’t wipe any dressing off! I was proud of myself. And I even liked it. The chef put it on with moderation so that helped my dilemma.
If you are one who does not really like sauerkraut, you should try to make friends with it. The kraut we had on our sandwiches, I helped to make at their house last fall. Each fall we gather to have a kraut making day. We fill a large crock with shredded cabbage. We take turns on the shredder, chit-chat and have great social time. The dad is the “foreman” and monitors the perfection of the shreds and adds the salt in layers and pushes everything down. Then when the time is right, we gather again and do the canning of it.
It is crazy how just salt and cabbage make a great probiotic for our bodies. So healthy for us and no preservatives are needed. And if you are one that doesn’t like sauerkraut, you may find a genuine liking to homemade sauerkraut! It is more mild and doesn’t have that strong pickled vinegary over tone to it. Also, you can add basil to it which really makes it tolerable. Trust me! If I ate the sauce, you can try the homemade kraut! Your guts will thank you.
Moving along to the microgreens…… being that the subject is about green…. I have in recent years discovered mircrogreens. Do you know what they are? They are the next step of health when considering sprouts. You are probably familiar with sprouts. Sprouts are seeds sprouted and grown without soil and you can eat the whole “plant” root, stem and first leaves as a whole. A nice big handful of these are great on a sandwich or in a salad. Sprouts have all the nutrients condensed in there to make a healthy full-sized plant.
When we eat sprouts, we get more nutrients in a small amount of food. In other words, in order to get the same amount of vitamins and minerals we would have to eat probably five bowls of salads! But, with sprouts, our bodies get an incredible amount of what it needs without stuffing ourselves and without having to take vitamin supplements. We can get it organically from sprouts.
So, back to microgreens. These are the next step of sprouts. Here the tiny beginning plant has two or sometimes three sets of leaves on it. Depending on the type plant, it may only have the first set of leaves. But these are grown in soil and once they reach a certain height and development, they are cut off close to the dirt and the roots remain in the soil. Microgreens can be used in salads, sandwiches, and any way sprouts can be. They are just as nutritious and give us a big bang for our buck.
You actually feel healthier right away after eating either of them. A draw back of sprouts is because of the way they are grown, they have a tendency to get mold in the moisture. If they are aerated too much they die or dry out. They have a very short shelf life and a little time window of when to eat them. They are a little plant with a little root that is seeking soil. So, they start dying if they are not being fed by soil. Don’t be discouraged, just know to be quick to eat them and know to look for how old they are. Rinsing them helps.
This is a great reason to focus on microgreens. You get the benefits of the live plant, a power punch of nutrients without the anxiety of mold ingestion and you have a bigger window of time to eat them since the roots are in dirt and getting what they need. Look for microgreens at your local farmer’s markets. Currently in Brooke County they can be bought at a local center and are grown locally. Email [email protected] if you are interested. Be well…………kindness is contagious~*