'Microgreens' taking food industry by storm now in Guwahati; you may ORDER NOW!

By Devabrata Dutta

GUWAHATI: In our fast-paced life, it has become hard to maintain a proper diet to provide our body all nutrition it requires, even harder for people residing in urban and metropolitan areas, as we are surrounded by concrete and dependent on fertilized vegetables and other food items.

Keeping all these factors in mind, a local entrepreneur from Guwahati has kick-started an idea to grow micro-greens -- a power-house of nutrition that has taken the food industry by storm.

Rahul Sharma, the city entrepreneur, has pioneered the art of cultivating a variety of fresh and nutritious microgreens in the city’s only vertical, indoor farm - Guwahati Microgreens.

[caption id="attachment_93263" align="alignleft" width="457"] Picture courtesy - Bitu Chetia[/caption]

“In today's fast-paced life, the nutritional imbalance is affecting a larger chunk of the working population. And when a well-wisher suggested microgreens as an answer to my dietary issues, I jumped on the idea. After that, a couple of months of research and experiments followed and soon I was growing a few varieties for self-consumption at home. And, I was surprised by the world of good it did to me,” said Rahul Sharma.

Also Read: PM Modi’s Portrait Made Compulsory In Every Assam Govt Office

Sharma further added, "They are also space-saving and can be cultivated without soil and pesticides. One can grow them both indoors and outdoors and needs about 10 to 14 days to harvest."

Microgreens are basically nutritious seedlings of green vegetables, herbs, and pulses harvested just after the cotyledon or the matured leaves have developed.

They are an entirely plant-based superfood that boasts of high levels of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, and enzymes that can fill nutritional requirements in the human body and consequently, boost immunity.

[caption id="attachment_93271" align="alignright" width="300"] Picture courtesy - Rinmayee Kalita[/caption]

Notably, microgreens contain 10 to 40 times as many vital nutrients compared to their fully mature counterparts.

The reason it has grown popularity is not only because of its nutritious properties but, it has some medicinal values as well.

According to health experts, consuming it can reduce the risk of heart diseases by lowering the triglyceride and bad ‘LDL’ cholesterol levels.

For diabetic patients, it can help prevent blood sugar abnormalities and improve glucose intake in cells.

These small plants with distinctive – nutty, earthy, sweet, and sour - flavours can be added easily to any sort of meals and food items from daal, sabji, salad to sandwiches and wraps. This quality is making it more popular than any other vegetables even among the kids.

Rinmayee Kalita, a homemaker and a mother of two-year-old, said, "They are colorful and have intense flavors that attract children. Microgreens are the answer to the parents’ eternal question - how to make children eat their greens.”

[caption id="attachment_93270" align="alignleft" width="327"] Picture courtesy - Rahul Sharma[/caption]

Now that Rahul Sharma has started growing them commercially as well, one can order this from him by logging into www.guwahatimicrogreen.com, and easily find him on Instagram under the name of @Guwahatimicrogreen.

"Since the commercial value of these plants is very high and maintenance costs very low, which seems to hold a very good market grip near the future as well, it can be a new income source for youths of our entire Northeastern region to become self-reliant by cultivating them," Rahul added.

Follow us on Facebook