You who love to consume vegetables, need to know the concept baby leaf of vegetables. It is a solution for singles, small families or for those looking for smaller sheets to make their dishes more practical.
O baby leaf concept refers to vegetables such as watercress, arugula, lettuce and spinach, harvested early, before they expand.
The waiting time varies between species, however, they are usually removed in half the time of traditional vegetables.
Therefore, it is another option for Brazilian agribusiness that is growing and attracting entrepreneurs. Check out how it works and the advantages of baby leaf. Good reading!
Meet the vegetable baby leaf
For those who live alone or just a couple, there is nothing more frustrating than buying vegetables and, after a certain time, having to throw the rest away because you couldn’t consume everything before they spoiled. But these wastes can be avoided quite simply.
We’re talking about the baby leaf concept. It is a process in which the vegetables are harvested before the usual time for consumption, that is, with the young leaves. And with an extra advantage: they are very tasty and soft.
By the baby leaf system, vegetables are harvested much earlier, providing softer and more flavorful leaves.
Increasingly, baby leaf is gaining consumers around the world and already dominate the market in Japan, Europe and Brazil, especially among the heads of large restaurants.
It is not just a passing fad. The “baby leaf” is a crop that is truly a trend, because, in addition to conquering chefs and palates around the world, they serve very well the needs of consumers today in relation to vegetables.
Advantages to stimulate consumption
Among the positive effects of growing and selling baby leaf is the incentive to consume a more varied diet. After all, the curiosity generated by the leafy vegetables favors the insertion of a greater variety of vegetables in the dishes.
The young leaves are also an efficient ally for those responsible who want to convince children to eat them. After all, it’s much more appealing to eat the tiny vegetables. And it can be an excellent tip to encourage your children to consume vegetables.
While a lettuce takes an average of 40 days for its total development cycle, baby leaf lettuce can be removed in just 20 days.
We can also mention the practicality that baby leaf brings to the routine. These are products that are often marketed already packaged and sanitized, ready to be consumed.
How baby leaf vegetables are grown
Among the ways of growing baby leaf is the hydroponic system type NFT (Nutrient Film Technique), which provides speed and quality in production, but has a higher cost for maintenance and installation.
The cultivation of vegetables in the baby leaf system can be done in trays: more practical for harvesting.
This type of vegetable can be produced in the ground, inside or outside a protected environment, under hydroponic cultivation and also in trays.
In places where the climate is semi-arid, cultivation is usually done in the ground in open fields.
The length can vary between species and form of use, so there is no official measurement. Even so, according to the Instituto Agrônomo de Campinas (IAC), it is suggested that to be classified as a baby leaf, the leaf needs to be between 5cm and 15cm.
Want to plant Baby leaf at home? Check it out on video below the step by step of this process that, from seed to harvest takes only 30 days:
Source: Sementes Island.
Baby leaf and mini vegetables
Although they have similar names, baby leaf is different from mini vegetables. Baby leaf are traditional vegetables that use a management technique to remain young (harvested ahead of time, without completing the cycle).
In turn, mini vegetables are vegetables, and even fruits, genetically modified (hybrid seeds). They grow to a certain size, but completing the entire cycle, as is the case with mini pumpkins, mini tomatoes and even mini watermelons.
Where to buy and how to consume
The large supermarket chains have already joined the marketing of the product and more and more places give baby leaf space on their shelves.
For marketing, there are two versions of the same product. One where the loose leaves are sold sanitized and packaged, that is, ready for consumption. It can be a single species per package or in mixtures of varied leaves, such as a mix of vegetables.
It is possible to buy baby leaf vegetables in supermarkets only in loose leaves or in the mix system.
The other possibility is to find whole plants still young (bundle or head), produced in a hydroponic system.
Official suppliers of restaurants, hotels and buffets can no longer fail to offer the delicacies. The small size also makes them easy to use in canapés and in the decoration of dishes at buffets.
Just like their regular-sized sisters, baby leaf can be used raw in salads or in a delicious arugula pizza, without having to cut the leaf.
Conclusion
Thus, in addition to the distinctive look and flavor, baby leaf has a higher concentration of minerals and vitamins.
This is without taking into account that, as they are produced in half the time, it becomes a plant free of industrial pesticides, most of the time.
If you liked this article, our tip is also the aquaponics system as a sustainable alternative, allowing you to grow vegetables and fish in the same system.
