There’s another edible vegetable that’s local and available farm fresh in the winter months: Swainway Urban Farm’s Microgreens.
True to its name, Swainway operates right out of the center of Columbus, or at least, the center of Clintonville. That makes it hyper-local. You can find its microgreens at farmers’ markets, Bexley Co-op, and Weiland’s.
The greens are sold in tidy see-through envelopes. The packaging permits an unrestricted view, so you can tell they’re fresh before purchasing them. They look modestly portioned in their little two-ounce baggies, but once you open things up, the winding shoots magically expand to make much more impact than expected. There’s a lot of green in those little envelopes.
So, Kale Microgreens, shall we? After all, the only thing hipper than kale is baby kale. It’s bizarrely pleasant. While mature kale, uncooked and undressed, isn’t high up on the fun-eats list, the little sprouts almost qualify as snack food. Where the big leaves can have an occasional medicinal accent, the teeny micro-versions are clearly cousins, but offer something fresh and crunchier, as opposed to chewy. You could throw the microgreens in anything. Mature kale? Not so much.
The Swainway website says its offerings are nutrient rich, but doesn’t give specifics. According to the legit-seeming people at NPR, the micro versions have four to six times the level of vitamins and phytochemicals you might find in the developed leaves.
So, you’d have to eat a lot less vegetables, to get the same benefits of just a handful of microgreens, right? That’s a perk for people who loathe veggies, and these lil’ greens are easy to eat. Plus, Kale isn’t the only flavor made by the company, it also produces packages in radish, broccoli, and mixed variants.
Post Script: Curious about the difference between sprouts and microgreens? According to the internet, the main difference is that sprouts involve the seed and seedling, while microgreens are stem and green only.
For more information, visit www.swainway.com.