Thank you Charlie Trotter from Cahaba Club Herbal Outpost

TAMPA, Fla. - Nov. 15, 2013 - PRLog -- Charlie Trotter: Pioneering Chef for the Microgreens industry.

Charlie Trotter, the definitive Top Chef and author of a dozen cookbooks, passed away on last Tuesday, "had a huge impact not just on our Cahaba Club (http://www.cahabaclub.com/) Microgreens farm but on small Microgreen farms across America," persisted Central Florida’s favorite Microgreens (http://www.cahabaclub.com/pdf_files/08-09%20Cover%20Story2.pdf) farmer Marvin Wilhite. We as a Foodie Nation look at plant-based entrees differently today thanks to Charlie Trotter who pushed for and voiced to our Nation what is available and the way we should prepare them in ways that had never been considered before.

Before chefs in our Nation knew about the healthy aspects of Microgreens, chefs asked, 'Why didn't you let it grow up?”  What are you doing picking them so young?' When Chef Trotter said he would like to have healthy-conscious baby greens that were young and more tender but, full of flavor and is different than what anybody else is doing, Microgreen farms like Cahaba Club Herbal Outpost (http://www.cahabaclub.com/media-press-room.html) were born.

At that juncture:

Trotter was worn-out with using mesclun (the salad mix of baby lettuces), baby arugula, tiny chervil and assorted baby endives that were ubiquitous in the '90s, needed something new that would blow his customers away. Before Chef Trotter there wasn’t an example of a chef using immature food products. He really pioneered it. Growing specialty microgreens and microherbs for the premiere chefs, not just micro-lettuces and heirloom tomatoes, baby squash, baby carrots, golden pea tendrils grown in the dark, grew from with Chef trotter’s need to surprise his guests with every plate.

Currently:

On a 10 acre microgreens farm that is chock-full of football-field size Greenhouses, just outside of Tampa, Florida, Cahaba Club (http://www.cahabaclub.com/media-press-room.html) grows more than 30 individual micro-greens and micro-herbs, as well as small heirloom vegetables, specialty baby lettuces and edible flowers.  This is the house that Charlie would have built himself, to supply quintessential eateries around the world. Trotter challenged us to grow things that led to build our entire Microgreens industry.

There have been a lot of farms that watched what chef Trotter did over the years and grew stylistic foods that he required. He has done more to influence American agriculture than any other chef. His constant philosophy of the pursuit of excellence, he was constantly searching and pushing for what had never been considered before: the flowers of vegetables (garlic blossoms and carrots make a beautiful flower), rather than the root of a plant that had traditionally been grown for cookery.

Trotter worked closely with the farms like those akin to Cahaba Club Herbal Outpost (http://www.cahabaclub.com/). This teamwork built an industry that has endured for more than two decades. Nowadays, it’s common to see Microgreens in everything from omelets, starters, salad, and main plate entrées.   Unlike their plate garnish predecessors, Microgreens are not void fillers—they provide a delicate pop of flavor that is much lighter and brighter than that of their mature equivalents, and they are, in fact, intended to be eaten!

Microgreens , simplified:

In recent years, the dated plate garnish concept has been refreshed by the emergence of Microgreens.  Microgreens are simply young versions of herbs grown from the same seeds as “normal” size plants.  At Cahaba Club Herbal Outpost (http://www.cahabaclub.com/). At Cahaba Club (http://www.cahabaclub.com/) microgreens are planted in an organic growing medium and reach their micro status in as little as seven to fourteen days. These micro-greens range from one to two inches in height and are snipped off just above the root line once the first set of leaves materialize.

Though there is research supporting the claim, the belief that microgreens are a natural super food has soared along with their popularity.  The USDA is currently in the preliminary stages of a nutritional study (http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf300459b) on microgreens, and Microgreen growers and consumers across the nation are highly anticipating the results.

Cahaba Club Microgreens Pack Nutritional Punch:

When some chefs visit Cahaba Club (http://www.cahabaclub.com/), they hustle through the hothouses, excited by what they can see, smell and taste, which leads to other suggestions and discussions about how other Top Chefs use Microgreens. They are packed with nutrients having up to 40 times more vital nutrients than mature plants. They may be tiny, but a study’s show trendy microgreens punch well above their weight when it comes to nutrition.

Researchers found microgreens like red cabbage, cilantro, and Diakon radish make beautiful and extremely healthy garnishes for any recipe that needs a little sprucing up. Many chefs use their taste profile to match the recipe where they are added.

Researchers evaluated levels of four groups of vital nutrients, including vitamin K, vitamin C, vitamin E, lutein, and beta-carotene, in 25 different commercially grown microgreens.

The results are published in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry.

Vitamin C, vitamin K, and vitamin E levels were highest among red cabbage, garnet amaranth, and green daikon radish microgreens. Cilantro microgreens were richest in terms of lutein and beta-carotene. All of these nutrients are extremely important for skin, eyes, and fighting cancer. Microgreens were superior in nutritional value than the mature plants in some cases 4-6 times more concentrated than in the leaves of a mature plant.

Cahaba Club Aptitude:

Cahaba Club Herbal Outpost (http://www.cahabaclub.com/) has been in business for more than two decades bringing Top Chefs a Top Chef product. Whether chefs are in Miami, Orlando, Nashville, New York, Chicago, or on the Food Network, chances are that if they’re using Microgreens that come from a Microgreen farm approximating Cahaba Club (http://www.cahabaclub.com/). Each day, the company ships 100’s pounds of its Microgreens via FedEx or UPS. The Microgreens are harvested in the morning and on a chef’s plate in Boston the next night.