What the research says about broccoli
Separated from the story on purpose. Cultural weight and research tier are different questions, and a thin literature says nothing about the worth of a food.
Glucoraphanin, the sulforaphane precursor, at 10–100× mature broccoli — though some studies put it nearer 15×, so we quote the range. Chewing or chopping is what converts it; heat deactivates the enzyme that does the work.
Seed to harvest
9–11 days
Named cultural relevance
Widely grown
A claim we correct
“Microgreens can replace mature vegetables.”
False, and we will not imply otherwise.
They are a concentrated addition to a plate, not a substitute for volume. Anyone selling them as a replacement for vegetables is selling you something else.
Microgreens are not sprouts, and the difference is measurable. Sprouts are grown warm and wet without light and eaten whole, seed and root included — conditions that favour bacterial growth, and the reason sprouts were linked to 52 documented foodborne-illness outbreaks in the United States between 1996 and 2020. Microgreens are grown in media with real airflow and cut above the growing medium.
Five things that move the numbers
Species variation is enormous
What holds for red cabbage does not necessarily hold for basil or cilantro. There is no single microgreen nutrition profile.
Per weight, not per plate
The multipliers are concentration measures. Comparing 100g to 100g is fair; a handful of microgreens does not deliver what a plate of broccoli delivers.
Growing conditions change the result
Light spectrum, intensity and duration, temperature, and growing medium all move the final numbers. Blue light around 440–470nm raises vitamins C, E and K and carotenoids; red light around 640–680nm raises phenolics and sweetens peas and sunflower.
Harvest timing changes the result
Cut at peak cotyledon, early, or late and the nutrient profile differs meaningfully. This is a judgement call made in the room, every week.
Freshness is not sentimental
Nutritional value declines within days of harvest. It is the reason we cut on the morning your box travels rather than building inventory.
How the room is run
- Germination at 60–70% humidity and 70–76°F, in the dark
- Switch to sub-irrigation once growth begins — water from below, not above
- No standing water, ever: it invites mould and damping-off
- No heavily chlorinated tap water
- Cut above the growing medium on the morning the box travels