Water infused with nutrients trickles onto the green towers, keeping the rosettes hydrated and fed. The ability to grow in such a small space is the result of hydroponics. Microgreens, the first, tiny greens on plants like lettuce, can go from seed to harvest in less than two weeks.
"We produce the plants using factory methods," Roy Liew, CEO of Vegetory explains. This method gives us control over a lot of these variables. We weren't into salads or greens at all!" reveals Roy candidly. I don't blame him. I'm not a big fan of salads myself. The kind of lettuce that's being sold hardly inspires any confidence at all.
That's how they felt, Roy shares, when they visited Taiwan years ago. "We were on a business trip," he recalls, adding: "My business principal took us out for dinner at a restaurant one day and we were served a big bowl of salad. We weren't exactly enthusiastic but of course what he served, we had to eat!"
Sweet & tasteful pre-cut vegetables
Roy's experience of eating salad hadn't been all that pleasant in the past. "I mean, why would I want to eat something that's bitter, wilted and so hard to chew or swallow?" But they found themselves finishing the entire salad bowl. "We didn't even realize that we finished the entire bowl!" adds Kok, Roy's wife, chuckling.
"The taste was amazing!" her husband chips in. "The taste was very different. Who would've thought that lettuce would be that tasty? We soon discovered that the restaurant was operated by a plant factory company. We were intrigued and made it a point to visit their factory. Coming from a technical background, I was more than interested. I mean, when technology meets agriculture, the possibilities are endless!"
Read the complete article at www.nst.com.my.