CLEVELAND, Ohio — Many diners have been guilty of picking around a tiny green garnish atop an indulgent dish at a restaurant without thinking. Some people might not think it’s even edible or worth chewing, with the greenery solely serving an aesthetic purpose.

Sometimes, those tiny greens can be the most flavorful and nutritious part of the entire meal, thanks to chefs hopping on the trend of utilizing more microgreens in the kitchen.

Microgreens are a category of produce all of their own. Aside from being beautiful and delicious, microgreens pack tons of nutritional benefits that people likely aren’t getting in their everyday diets.

Northeast Ohio growers like the Chef’s Garden and Wild Patch Microgreens are expanding the options for professional and home chefs to incorporate healthy nutrients into meals through fresh microgreens.

From seed to greens

Microgreens are typically harvested between one week and forty days after the seed has been planted, usually measuring less than one and a half inches tall, according to growers at the Chef’s Garden. Some of the most common microgreens include broccoli, radish, beet and arugula.

It’s important to distinguish that microgreens aren’t a type of produce, but a period in the growing cycle of a plant. Sprouts, for example, are harvested almost immediately after germination. Microgreens spend a little more time growing, while baby greens are the stage right after.

While most people might know a handful of microgreens at most, such as broccoli or peas, Wild Patch offers 30 to 40 different varietals grown seasonally.

Microgreens, like all plants, start at the seed. It’s important to get high-quality seeds that haven’t been treated, as opposed to other crops, since microgreens are consumed quickly in their growing cycle. Wild Patch Microgreens prioritizes non-GMO, organic seeds.

Tom and Mary Poplar, who own Wild Patch, have always been hobby growers, but their passion for farming amplified when they moved to Sugar Pine Farms in Chesterland three years ago.

During one snowed-in winter, the pair ordered supplies for growing microgreens at home. That turned into a year of germinating different varieties and experimenting before they decided to go commercial with Wild Patch Microgreens.

Now, the couple works full-time for Wild Patch Microgreens. Their initial interest was fueled by the nutritional value of microgreens plus the ability to grow them in small spaces.

Tom and Mary are very hands-on with their process, from when they first plant the seeds to when the finished product lands in a chef’s hands. They handle distribution for Wild Patch Microgreens, harvesting and delivering within a 24-hour window.

Plus, Wild Patch is only available locally – they don’t want the microgreens to spend days in fluctuating temperatures while traveling long distances. When Wild Patch does get a request that isn’t local, they encourage folks to seek out their own local microgreens growers.

“We love serving those chefs and people who actually care about the food they’re using and nutrition and want to use microgreens as an ingredient versus just like a garnish,” Tom said.

A major part of Wild Patch’s success has been growing to order, Mary said. About 80 percent of its business is restaurants, but they’re trying to grow the brand’s presence at farmers’ markets and local grocery stores. The grow-to-order model means that if anything is left over or extra, they can typically sell it at a market or event.

One day, Wild Patch would like to be producing its own seeds for microgreens so it’s completely cyclical.

“It’s our way of eliminating waste, custom growing, but then also not having a bunch of extra stuff left over at the end of each harvest,” Mary explained

Maintaining healthy crops and delivering quickly after harvesting helps Wild Patch Microgreens’ products maintain a longer shelf-life. Some mass-produced microgreens may only last two or three days in the refrigerator. Wild Patch has received feedback from chefs that their greens stay fresh for up to two weeks.

“Everything else blows the industry standard of what these chefs are used to out of the water,” Mary said.

Growing pains

While the Wild Patch Microgreens business model sounds like a no-brainer success story in theory, it takes a lot of work and attention to detail to consistently deliver healthy microgreen crops.

Jeff Thaler understands first-hand how growing high-quality microgreens isn’t the easiest task. Thaler ran Lettuce Tree Farms, a brand that began growing hydroponic lettuce at Ohio State University in Columbus. It evolved as did Thaler’s interest in growing microgreens.

He was working at Rust Belt Riders at the time, which allowed him to begin growing in a part of its warehouse. He started small – the first batch of microgreen seeds Thaler ever grew was in the window of his Lakewood apartment.

After a strong few years, Lettuce Tree Farms grew out of its warehouse space. Thaler began building his design for a shipping container farm that also utilized hoop houses. Unfortunately, he broke ground in October 2019, right before the pandemic caused him to lose workers to do both the construction work and maintain the farm.

“We had one guy working when it should’ve been six and it just dragged everything to a slow crawl,” Thaler explained.

Additionally, like Wild Patch Microgreens, 80 percent of Lettuce Tree Farms’ customers were high-end chefs while the other 20 percent were catering businesses. The COVID-19 pandemic decimated that customer base.

He completed construction for his innovative farm design by the end of 2021 but the space quickly began showcasing its issues. While several factors contributed to the company’s decline, the lack of staffing to maintain the proper environment for growing microgreens was the biggest hurdle.

Despite having good insulation, airflow and cleaning procedures, the small crew couldn’t maintain mold control from degrading flats near the growing area that eventually spread to his main growing area. Thaler estimates that, by the end, it took five times as long to harvest microgreens due to having to remove and work around the mold.

“Mold is what actually brought the business down,” Thaler explained. Lettuce Tree Farms officially shut down in November 2023.

Mold is also a major fear for Wild Patch Microgreens, which is another reason Tom and Mary are so hands-on. They don’t automate the watering or harvesting process, and they consider constant airflow to be one of the most important factors. Considering that they built their facility in their home, it’s pretty easy to be constantly checking on the crop.

“Microgreens are an up-and-coming market for sure,” Thaler said. “It hurt to get out of them at this stage because I know give it five years, even three years, it might be a different world.”

Priceless nutritional value

The health benefits of microgreens are one of the biggest appeals. Microgreens can contain anywhere between 4 and 40 times the nutrients of the mature leaves of the same plants. Additionally, some microgreens can help manage type 2 diabetes, lower the risk of heart disease and contain compounds like sulforaphane that have been shown to help prevent cancer, according to research cited by the Cleveland Clinic.

Alongside likely containing higher levels of vitamins and minerals, microgreens contain less “anti-nutrients,” like phytate, oxalate and tannins, that reduce the absorption of minerals like iron and calcium, according to the Chef’s Garden.

Educating folks about those benefits is a major part of the business for growers. People have to understand that although they might be paying more for a small container of microgreens versus the full-grown produce options, the nutrient density is often much higher.

“A little bit goes a long way and you’re going to get more nutritional value for the same dollar value. But it doesn’t seem that way looking at the size and the pricing,” Thaler said.

”This isn’t just something pretty to sprinkle on your dish. It’s something that can actually be nutritionally meaningful for your diet.”

Each individual microgreen plant was its own seed with the capability to grow into an adult plant. Therefore, the nutrients for the full-grown plant are packed into the small green. Plus, the flavor is concentrated.

“That’s actually you tasting the nutritional density,” Thaler said. “You get what would support a much larger plant in these two tiny little leaves.”

A few varietals, like cantaloupe or carrot, pack the full flavor of the familiar produce into a few tiny leaves. Other microgreen varietals that folks might not normally eat include mustards, rainbow beets, sunflower greens, fennel, cilantro, daikon radish and more.

“You’re getting those nutrients and things that your body has probably been wishing and lacking,” Tom said. “It’s a fun way to kind of get people to eat something different – when we’re all kind of stuck in our routines of getting the same, you know, tomatoes, peppers, lettuce at the store.”

Sprinkling more flavor

In general, a few types of microgreens are not safe to eat. Produce in the nightshade family, like tomatoes or peppers, can cause digestive problems if eaten as a microgreen. Additionally, certain produce varietals just downright don’t taste good in the microgreen stage.

“Anything technically can be a microgreen considering it’s the stage of growth that it’s at. But whether or not you should harvest and eat it is another story,” Tom explained.

Some folks might look at a pack of microgreens and be stumped as to how to incorporate it into their regular meals. It’s not smart to cook with them as they’re so delicate, and it’s not practical to add one stem as a garnish if folks are looking for the nutritional benefits.

Topping pizza, tacos, pasta, sandwiches, eggs, cuts of meat and beyond are just a few of the basic examples, alongside preparing a basic microgreen salad.

To help encourage the average home chef to experiment with microgreens, Wild Patch creates seasonal “patches,” or mixes or microgreens. The Burger Patch, for example, includes lettuce, mustard and leek microgreens that taste like the toppings of a burger.

“You have to know how to be able to utilize it in its best form which is typically fresh and just directly on top of something at the end of cooking,” Thaler said.

Alex Darus writes about food, dining and drinking for Cleveland.com, check out her latest posts here. You can reach her with story ideas at [email protected]. Follow her on Instagram @alex_darus.

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