Bailey Jans works with microgreens daily as a junior chef and apprentice of Chef Quinn Staples. She loves how each microgreen has a unique flavor.--SUBMITTED PHOTO
kking@medicinehatnews.com
A Medicine Hat company is hoping to spearhead Alberta’s growing microgreen industry.
Wild Things Microgreens, run by mother and daughter team Val and Bailey Jans, is one of province’s first soil-growing microgreen productions, which aims to get local, organic greens onto people’s plate and into their homes.
“Back in the 1980s in California, there was a huge culinary scene going on – very modern cuisine,” Bailey, a junior chef at Hotel Arts and Chef Quinn Staple’s apprentice, told the News. “They started harvesting herbs, like basil, cilantro and mint, they started picking them really early so they could get them very small.
“You could garnish your plate with the very small herb. It’s grown a lot from there. We use them a lot in the industry. It’s very popular now.”
Microgreens are widely used in fine dining, Bailey said, however she and Val encourage home cooks to also incorporate them into their meals
“They can be eaten raw, juiced, blended, incorporated into a variety of cold and warm dishes – everything; smoothies, salads, sandwiches and power bowls,” Val said.
“They add a lot of flavour to a dish. (They) are very nutritious,” Bailey said. “It depends on the microgreen, but on average, you can get anywhere from 30-40% of your vitamin C and vitamin A just from a few tablespoons of them … and of course, they have fibre, too.”
Val, Bailey and their family have been eating microgreens for years, but noticed it was difficult to find them fresh in Medicine Hat and area. After acquiring the Wild Things Microgreens company from a previous owner, Val and Bailey have been working to restructure the business in a way which makes possible the supply of both private consumers and restaurants with locally-grown, organic products.
“There’s very few local growers,” said Bailey. “They’re a few growers in B.C., but usually they’re imported from the U.S.”
Bailey explained most microgreen growers use a hydroponic growing process, which means the greens are grown in water.
“They have a water-tank system (where) you add synthetic nutrients in to get the growth. Whereas soil-grown is just old-fashioned, seeding in soil … It may not grow as fast but it tastes better and has better colour,” she said.
The growing cycle for soil-grown microgreens, which grow on stacked living trays, isn’t as fast as hydroponic-grown, but Val says on-average, it’s only 14 days to harvest.
“Our whole plan is, they’re harvested and they are on your table in 12 to 24 hours,” said Val. “A lot of these others go in warehouses and they’ll sit for a week before they’re even shipped out. So, you lose that nutritional benefit of it.”
“(Microgreens) are some of the best nutrients they can ever get,” she said. “Broccoli for instance; yes, broccoli is a healthy food, but if you can eat it in a microgreen, it’s 40% higher with nutrients than just regular broccoli. They’re a superfood … I want to put this out there so people have that benefit healthy eating.”
“We are going to be 100% organic and 100% local,” said Bailey. “There’s no pesticides … It’s a completely clean operation.”
