01x04 - Stop Ghosting Greens

[bunniefuu]

[Zooey] You want dessert,

first you have to eat
your greens.

So many of us were traumatized

by an otherwise
awesome food group

simple because our parents,

relatives or school
cafeteria staff

had no clue how to pick
or prepare great greens.

So we're gonna dive into
the world of greens

and figure out once
and for all whether you
grow your own greens,

when to eat them,

and which lettuce is best
for your body.

For those of us
still learning to give
greens a chance,

we'll find out how to get
the most nutrients

by eating the least
amount of greens.

And the biggest conundrum
of all,

how do you make a salad
that tastes amazing

without smothering it
with unhealthy dressing?

Oh, and bonus tip,

we'll reintroduce you
to an old school green

that might just be
the best all-round
green in the supermarket.

If you've been in the produce
section lately,

you know the prices
are going up.

So that begs the question,

is it actually cheaper
to grow your own greens?

According to the folks
at the National Gardening Association,

it'll cost you about 70 bucks
to start your own garden,

and while that's not nothing,

their number crunchers
also estimate
the average gardener

will earn $600 in crop yield
on this initial investment.

But getting more
greens for your buck

requires a little know-how,

so I'm visiting GrowGood
farms in Bell, California,

to get the scoop.

How does like growing your
own lettuce compare

to store bought lettuce?

Growing your own lettuce
is a fun way to kind of

again introduce those foods
to your home.

It's 100% organic.

Whenever you get it straight
from the ground,

it's the freshest
it'll ever be,

and it'll taste the best
and have the most nutrients.

[Zooey] Just to be clear,
eating greens

will always be better
than eating a bag of chips,

but your greens may not
be as healthy as you think.

The vitamin C of spinach
alone drops by 90%

in the first day
after it's picked.

So getting your greens
from the ground to your plate

as fast as possible
is critical.

We can come over here,

and do some seeding
of red oak leaf lettuce.

Okay. Great.

[Francis] What's really
nice is you can see
how small they are.

'Cause they're really small
I kind of like to use these
little gadgets.

- [Zooey] Oh, oh, yeah.
- [Francis] To just to kind
of put in there,

and this is a general
potting soil mix you can get

from a store.

I try to aim for about
two seeds per cell here.

[Zooey] Oh, my God, I'm not
good at this, I'm sorry.

- Okay, well, you know...
- I don't have a talent.

We'll label the trays
afterwards so we know
this is yours.

- So we'll get a special
spot for it in the greenhouse.
- Okay, okay.

- Yeah.
- Don't worry about it.

So once we seed
all these cells.

We're gonna carry it
into the greenhouse

and leave it in there
for about two to three weeks.

Obviously, if you're like
doing some home gardening,

you can just kind of
put it in a nice sunny spot.

What you're really looking
for the is the plant to be

a couple inches or a little,
a couple leaves mature.

- Yeah.
- Before bringing it out.

[Zooey] Once our little
seeds sprout, they'll need
a little nutrient boost,

either from potting soil
or compost

which I learned from
GrowGood we can all
help make.

More on that later.

[Francis] Grabbing the wheel
barrow, we'll bring it over

- to our finished
compost over here.
- [Zooey] Mmm.

And then we're just gonna
mesh it right through.

[Zooey] Why is it important
to sift the compost?

So bigger stuff is good for
putting around fruit trees

in different larger spaces,

but when we're
planting vegetables,

we want to be really
nice and fine.

Now we're gonna take
this finished compost

and add it right
to the growing space here.

With lettuce, the most
important thing

is we just kinda wanna
focus on spacing.

And I kinda like to just
break them up a little bit.

We want to make sure
the roots are rice and free.

[Zooey] What's the best season
for planting greens?

[Francis] Lot of the leafy
greens like to be
in the cooler months.

[Zooey] Growing your own
greens can save you money
and give you healthier food.

To maximize savings
and nutrition,

plant October to April
if you live in warmer
parts of the country.

If you live in
colder climates,

starting planting once
the temp is above 45 degrees.

Lettuce is clearly
one cool green,

but whether you're growing it
or buying it,

you have a lot of decisions
to make before it gets
to your plate.

Find the perfect green
is a lot like online dating.

Sure, there's definitely a lot
of great options out there,

but you gotta be sure you're
making the right pick for you.

Remember, don't judge
a book by its cover,

and watch out for red flags.

So allow me to introduce
you to several varieties
of eligible greens.

And as an added bonus,

we'll be revealing these
greens in order of how rich
they in essential nutrients.

While he's always being
showered with attention,

he's definitely lacking
in substance,

but if you simply must get
this green into your life,

he at least does
mix well with others.

Arugula has many nicknames,
but dull ain't one of them.

She's often called
rocket, arugula,
colewort, and roquette,

and is considered a powerhouse
food by the CDC

because she packs high levels
of so many nutrients.

Although she loves
a good massage,

this 2,000-year-old lady
is far from being needy.

She packs one
of the biggest vitamin K
punches of any vegie,

but beware of her dirty
little secret,

she has the most
pesticide residue

of nearly any produce
found on supermarket
shelves in the US.

We'll be back with more
eligible greens in a moment,

but for now we need
to address an urgent issue.

If we want our greens
to last longer

than some online
relationships do,

we've got to find a way

to get them from our
farm to our table

as fast as possible.

Most produce lose 30%
of nutrients just three days
after harvest.

Even when we're trying
to be healthy and eat
more greens,

we're not even getting
the full benefit.

What gives?

Problem, meet high
tech solution.

Dariany Santana is on
a mission to see

if vertical farms could be one
of the quickest ways to get

greens from the harvest
to your grocery store

using far less water,
land, and chemicals.

[Camille] Right now,
it's night time.

So the plants are taking
a little rest,

and pretty soon, we're gonna
turn on the lights,

- and it will be day.
- [Dariany] Oh, it's happening!

Oooh.

[Zooey] The controlled
environment at Plenty

allows them to grow
and harvest greens

year round, regardless
of the weather.

Talk about a bright idea.

[Dariany] And let's talk
about water.

[Camille] Yeah,
just like land, you know,
our goal is to save water.

So agriculture accounts
for about 70%

of all fresh water supply
in the world.

The one thing that we know
is we're running out of these
scarce resources.

[Zooey] Plenty's vertical farm
uses 95% less water

than a traditional farm.

This controlled environment
means no bugs,

and that means no pesticides.

Zero creepy crawlies
plus zero chemicals

equals delicious
and healthy greens

ready to eat the second
they're harvested.

Who's hungry?

So we don't wash the produce,
you the end consumer don't
need to wash the produce.

The fact I don't have
to wash my produce,

you just made my life easier.

And this looks like not
that big of a room,

- but I see a lot of vegies.
- [Camille giggles]

How sustainable is this model
that you guys have created?

Plenty exist in order
to protect our planet.

There's only a handful
of Mediterranean zone

around the world where its
productive to buy fruits
and vegetables.

That's important to understand
because that farmland
is essentially tapped out.

Right, so we need
to be able to have
new modes of production

in order to build new
farmland from the ground up

in order to help this world
transition from,

you know, a calorie rich diet
really to a nutrient rich one.

And beyond that,
we pack a lot of produce

into a very small
amount of space.

To put it into perspective,
if you think of a standard
soccer field,

the amount of produce
that can be grown outdoor
in the field

we can grow that same amount
of food in the just the area
of a goal post.

We're basically building
new farmland in places
where it never existed before.

Is this going to give more
variety to us the consumer
at grocery stores?

That's the goal. So let's
take our arugula down
there as an example.

That same arugula variety

if we just grow
it in a slightly
different environment,

so if we change the lighting,

the nutrients, the heat,
humidity, et cetera,

we can get an arugula
that's mild or spicy.

And that's really
the power of getting
to know your plants,

and nurturing them
to ultimately deliver
the best flavor.

[Dariany] What, what's
happening? They're moving.
Oh, my!

[Camille] And when they're
ready to be harvested, they go
on this conveyance system.

They're now going to go
and get harvested

by one of our
harvesting robots.

[Zooey] Most greens in stores
are three to 10 days old,

and often get treated with
a chlorine-based preservative.

By growing closer
to the markets
they're sold in,

Plenty's crops avoid
the same fate.

We harvest right here,

put them in a box and they
are out the door

in call it less than 24 hours.

[Zooey] There are more than
2,000 vertical farms
in the United States.

Right now, it can be
a pretty expensive
method of farming,

but with ongoing advancement
in technology and techniques

vertical growers like Plenty
are figuring out

how to deliver top quality
greens at competitive prices.

Who knows,

in the future all our crops
might be coming
from vertical farms,

so let's get in
on the ground floor.

Don't let the tight-lipped
visual of an endive
scare you off,

she's actually great
parenting material

because she's rich in folate,
one of the best nutrients
for expecting moms.

Don't buy into
the misleading reputation,

romaine is more than just
a big heart and a pretty face,

she actually packs higher
levels of vitamin A,

folate, and potassium
than many of flashier counterparts.

As one of the most
overlooked leafy greens,

watercress is sitting
on the sidelines

just waiting for you
to take a chance on them.

They're ranked number one
of the CDC's power
vegetable list,

for crying out loud.

It's go the perfect
nutrient density score
of 100!

While watercress is great
vegie you should be
enjoying more often,

nutrient scores
aren't everything.

Stay tuned because we still
haven't revealed our choice,

for the all-round best
green dinner date.

Whenever they were grown,

those greens are going
to end up on a fork.

So how do you make
them delicious

without offsetting
the nutritional value
with too much dressing?

That's like spending
hours putting together
the perfect outfit

and then having to cover
it up with a parka.

To help us avoid
this culinary faux paus,

our fittest foodie,
Kevin Curry,

is meeting with
Chef Tirzah Love,

to learn how to dress
out greens for success.

So I know you are
the queen of salads,

and I like a good salad too,

and I know I'm like
a whole lot of people
out there,

that sometimes the devil's
busy and you start putting
other things,

and you salad ends up
being an entire meal.

What makes a salad unhealthy?

Salad dressing is the biggest
culprit of making
an unhealthy salad.

You generally only
need two tablespoons
of dressing

for your salad, but people
like to coat it.

[Zooey] Americans
love salad dressing,

but we really love ranch.

40% of us say it's our fave,

and no other contender
even comes close.

Italian dressing is a distant
second with just 10%.

Sadly, a single serving
of bottled ranch

has high sodium, preservatives,

and nearly as much trans fats
as a slice of American cheese.

And let's be honest, who has
the willpower to stick
to just one serving?

So how do we get that rich,
creamy ranch vibe

without the unnecessary fat,
sodium, and preservatives?

- A lot of dressing
are unhealthy...
- [Kevin] Mmm-hmm.

because they utilize
mayonnaise and sour cream.

You can substitute those
things for Greek yogurt,

or even vegan yogurt

to get that creamy essence,

and sometimes coconut milk.

We're gonna use hummus,

as like a ranch substitute.

But there's already
like fat-free ranch,
so can we do that?

No, that's not a thing.

When they say "fat free,"
they replace the fat
with sugar,

which translates to more
carbs in your body.

So I made this hummus.

- [Kevin] Can you?
- [Tirzah] But you can also use
store bought if you must.

- I like homemade hummus here.
- It's creamier and it's just
not hard to make.

I'm gonna add more
garlic to this

for some flavor.

- [Kevin] Okay.
- [Tirzah] And then we're gonna
thin it out with some water.

Whisk, whisk, whisk.

And I'm gonna add
a little squeeze of lemon,

and look how easy this was.

- Okay, here we go.
- All right.

The creaminess.

The nostalgia, mmm,
get a creamy dressing,
I can do that.

If you have to have ranch,
you can use the seasoning.

So I can make the hummus
and then get one of those
like ranch packets?

- Yeah.
- Oh, say less.

But hey, don't use
the whole thing
it has a lot of salt in it.

I usually tend to just
buy like the salad bags.

- Don't look at me like that.
- It is so much cheaper

to buy lettuce that is not
cut up in a bag.

Not only is it better
quality, it lasts longer,

and it tastes better.

So today we're gonna make
a massaged kale salad.

- A massaged kale...
- Yes.

That sounds like
a date night recipe.

We're gonna take
the salad's stress away.

- [Kevin laughs]
- Okay?

- You have to love on your food
before you eat it. Okay?
- I love it.

- [Tirzah] Kale is like
the queen green.
- [Kevin] Okay.

I love using kale
in my salad...

- Yep.
- ...because it's a really
nutrient-rich green leaf.

I massage it because
it's not good by itself.

It's gonna need a whole
lot of massaging.

Show me, show me, Tirzah,

- And what does the lemon do?
- [Tirzah] It's gonna
tenderize it.

- It's hard of digest it
when it's in it's raw state.
- [Kevin] Yeah. Yeah.

- [Tirzah] Get in there
and like squeeze it.
- [Kevin] Getting in there.

- A easy way to make
salad dressing...
- Okay.

is to toss everything
in a jar and shake it.

- So we got some lemon
in here, what is that?
- This is garlic,

and some Dijon.

I'm gonna add a little
bit of honey.

Now, I'm a adding the fat.

- [Kevin] All right.
- Make sure you use
a good olive oil.

And we're gonna shake
it up and give it
a little taste.

- You see how thick and that
beautiful rich color?
- [Kevin] Wow.

And if I'm not a fan of honey,
can I use maple, or agave,

- or anything like that?
- [Tirzah] Oh, definitely.

[Kevin] How long
will this last?

This dressing will last
up to couple weeks
in the fridge.

Lemon is the preservative
that most people use.

- Citric acid, you know.
- [Kevin] Yeah.

- It's lemon. So it's not going
to go bad quickly.
- [Kevin] Yeah.

So you ready to plate it?

- [Kevin] I am.
- [Tirzah] Let's do it.

Look at me, I'm making
a salad.

As you do the red,
I'll do the pop of yellow.

[Tirzah] And then
our cucumbers,

and our radishes,

and then we'll finish off
with the pistachio.

And this is just for
the other vegetables
to hang out with it.

- Have it your way right away.
- [Kevin] Hey.

- [Kevin laughing]
- [Tirzah] What do you think?

- Mmm.
- This is a b*mb salad.

I like the saltiness of it,

and with the softness.

I'd never thought I'd be
saying that kale, raw kale,
is soft.

- [Tirzah] Mmm-mmm.
- A little bit of sweetness
coming through.

- Mmm-hmm.
- With the dressing.

T, thank you so much.

And I can't promise to have
a salad every single day.

But I know I can now have
a lot more confidence...

- [Tirzah] Yeah.
- ...to have a lot more
salads during the week.

So, let's see.

We've me a lot
of eligible greens,

learned how to dress
them, we've planted
seeds conventionally,

and we went totally vertical,

but what if I told you
there's even more delicious

cutting edge innovations
in the greenerverse?

One new trend is taking
something most of us

have been ignoring
for thousands of years,

and turning it into
one of the healthiest
food on the planet.

Dariany Santana is heading
out to explore

the wide world of microgreens

which are the same vegies
we already know and love,

but with more flavor

and as much as 40%
more nutrients

packed into a fraction
of the serving side.

How did you think
about microgreens?

I served in the army
for eight years.

My mother, she went
to Le Cordon Bleu,

and when she was
going to school,

they gave the students
a very limited supply
of microgreens.

And when I got out the army,

we had a idea of starting
a microgreen company.

I didn't want him
to join like something
dangerous again.

You know, he was in
Afghanistan, he was in Iraq.

We talked about it
so that I'm like,

"Hey, Lupe, let's
do it as a family."

[Lupe] Microgreens
is a produce product

that's not really known
to the general public,

and it's really hard to find.

So you're making safe food
for us to consume while
you stay safe at home.

It's a double safe do.

- Okay, so I have like
a lot of questions.
- For sure.

- What is a microgreen?
- Microgreens are seedlings
of vegetable and herb plants.

So these, if you let
them grow,

they would turn
into the real plant?

So these will all turn into
the real broccoli,

or turn to the real arugula.

They'll turn into
the real cilantro.

So it's just like
teenage plants.

Exactly, they're
baby vegetables, right.

At this stage, there's
more flavor,

but more importantly,
there's more antioxidants

and nutrients compared
to the more mature
vegetable, right?

- Don't just talk about it,
be about it. Can I try them?
- All right, let's see.

- [Lupe] I'll give you
some cilantro.
- [Dariany] Yes.

[Lupe] We always say when
we're at the market,

"If this isn't the best
tasting cilantro,
we're going home."

Very fresh, very potent
compared to the mature vegetable.

Whoa, that's crazy.

- Very good in a taco,
very good in an omelette.
- Mmm.

- Uh, avocado toast.
- Mmm.

On top of pasta.

And this is rambo radish.

This is very spicy.

Now a lot of our customers

will put rambo radish
like on top of a hotdog,

- in a hamburger.
- It is very spicy.

- It keeps getting spicier...
- ...the more you chew it, exactly.

And then I'll give you
nature's milk.

This is speckled pea,
very sweet and tender.

Oh, this one gets tall.

It's so cool.

They taste like a pea.

- [Dariany] What's this,
what's this?
- This is broccoli.

So one ounce of broccoli
microgreens is equivalent

to nine ounces of mature
broccoli when it comes
to nutrient density.

[Zooey] Did you know
vegies loose nutrition density

as they grow bigger?

But because microgreens
are plucked so soon
after sprouting,

they're nutrient-packed
flavor bombs.

Broccoli can be
annoying to eat
if that makes any sense.

This is far less annoying.

- And it doesn't give
you gas, right?
- Shut up!

- Yep, exactly.
- This broccoli doesn't
give you gas?

- Doesn't give you gas.
- Okay, microgreens
for the world.

I mean, I'm sold.

[Zooey] Nutritious? Check.

Delicious? Check.

So are you thinking
what I'm thinking?

Can I grow my own
microgreens at home?

Okay, how easy is it
to really grow this stuff?

[Lupe] So, yeah, the most
important thing in regards
to growing microgreens

is using germination soil.

So germination soil
is very fine,

and doesn't have any
fertilizer compared
to potting soil.

So what you do here

is you pour your soil
10/20 tray.

You could get
a 10/20 tray online.

And you could get
germination soil at a nursery.

It smells like good soil.

It's very fine and what you do
right now is you just

crumple it up until
you get all the chunks out.

[Dariany] You gotta really
get your hands in there.

You gotta get
your hands dirty.

Get a paddle,

or a book and really
flatten the soil out.

And then what you want to do
is you want to get your water,

and spray it down.

There's really no science
behind watering,

you just have to get
the touch and the feel.

And in here, you get
your microgreens.

This is 30 grams of broccoli.

Now you just spread it
evenly right on top
of the germination soil.

[Dariany]
You're like sprinkling.

Yep, you're just
sprinkling evenly.

Right across the soil,
on top of the soil.

And then what you want
to do is just spray the seeds.

Very simple.

Anybody could do this
in their home.

And then what you do
is you cover it up.

We put bricks on top
of our microgreens,

because what that does
is it makes the roots
very strong.

Plants are like humans, right?

The more adversity they face,
the stronger they're gonna be.

So this is our dark out room.

We have our microgreens in
here for three to five days.

But you'll see here, see how
they're all germinated, right?

- That's insanity.
- It's insane, right?

So, yeah, we go from the dark
room to the light room,

and they're gonna be
in here for about five days.

And then after five days,
they'll be ready to go
to the farmers market,

location restaurants here
in LA, and hotels we serve.

Thank you so much
for having me,

and I'm excited to this myself
on my own windowsill.

There's one more simple step

that's beneficial for anyone
growing food at home

and those of us guilty
of leaving our greens

in the fridge long enough
to become goop.

But wasting greens doesn't
just make your fridge stink,

it can have huge
environmental consequences.

Americans only compost
about 4% of our food waste.

Most of it goes to landfills

where it gives off high
percentages of methane.

But composting can,
address this problem.

and since this process
is now required by law
in some cities,

I figure it's time I learn
a thing or two about it.

I'm heading back
to GrowGood farms

to find out if getting
dirty is worth the hassle.

[Francis] Let's head over
to our composting area...

- Yeah.
- ...where we can talk
a bit more about composting.

- Okay, great.
- [Francis] So we have
like green materials

- and brown materials,
and that's kind of...
- [Zooey] Mmm-hmm.

...the two different
categories in which we
add to our compost.

[Zooey] So this is all just
like green scraps,

- like eggshells, like
lettuces, like fruit...
- [Francis] Yeah.

- [Zooey]...whatever.
- Carrot tops, bananas.

Perfect timing for you
to be here to help me.

[Zooey] How do you get
a pile started?

So were gonna get
the pile started

by mixing in some
of the brown material.

I can't say I've actually
ever used a pitchfork.

- Feeling very farmery.
- [Francis laughs]

- [Zooey] It's a pretty good...
- That's a good
base layer, yeah.

- [Zooey] Yeah.
- So now we're
gonna go ahead

- and grab some
of the green materials.
- Okay.

So why is it so
important to compost?

It's important because
what we're doing is

basically managing decomposition

in a controlled environment,

and in a way that will
make the materials

break down faster.

So instead of everything
going to a landfill

where it's all mixed
and not managed,

it takes a lot longer.

[Zooey] Methane,
a potent greenhouse gas,

is produced when micro
organisms decompose our waste

in an environment lacking
in oxygen,

like a plastic trash bag
filled with food scraps
and household waste.

But placing our food waste in
a well-aerated compost heap

with the proper mix
of organic material

can produce fertile soil
while drastically cutting
methane emissions.

Talk about a win-win.

So a lot of restaurants, organizations,

and residents will be able
to like start dropping off

- their compost at different
sites and different areas.
- Yeah.

So it's breaking down
to kind of help with
the climate crisis.

So this is our finished
composting pile right here.

You can see it's all nice
and broken down,

which is great for the garden.

You've kinda done
the full circle.

Composting, seeded some
lettuce, planted some lettuce,

and now we've harvested
some lettuce

for the shelter kitchen.

[Zooey] It's been such
a good experience.

I don't know about you,

but this journey taught
me a lot about what
makes a green great.

Packed with flavor
and nutrition,

grown locally,
farmed sustainably,

and we've met a lot
of greens that fit the bill.

But there's one green

that is a next level
culinary wonder.

It may surprise you since
it's been on so many

of our dinner tables
over the years,

especially at grandma's house.

That's right, let's give
it up for...

Collard greens.

They thrive throughout the US

which means you can
get them fresh almost
any time of year.

They're also chocked
through with nutrients

like vitamin K
for healthy bones,

vitamins A and C
to support the immune system,

potassium for muscle function,

and fiber for digestive
health and lower cholesterol

which can help prevent
heart disease.

They're a delicious
soul food staple

that also shines
in salads and smoothies.

Once collards
are in the kitchen,

there's no way they'll make
it in the compost bin.

They'll all get eaten.

Enjoy going green, my friends.

You'll be glad you did.

Hey, by the way, I've been
looking for years

and I found the perfect
gluten free bagel.

I'll tell you about it
an more great grain
discoveries next time.