Shoot Your Salad! 3 Ways to Improve Your Salad’s Nutrition

Shoot your salad!

Oops.  That title sounds a bit violent.  I don’t mean to suggest you should put a bullet through your salad.  Imagine the mess that would make.  No, I am thinking of a different type of shoot.

You know how vegetables coming a variety of rhymes, right?  Roots, shoots and fruits (and leaves and mushrooms, but they don’t rhyme).  Most people include lots of leaves in their salads and add a few fruits (tomatoes, green peppers) and roots (carrots, onions).  But rarely do they add shoots.

Shoots are baby plants.  They certainly add variety to a salad, just because they are different.  And variety is nice.  Variety is also important for nutrition – the more variety we eat, the more different nutrients our body absorbs, probably including hundreds of nutrients we are not even aware of yet.

Shoots or Sprouts

Usually we refer to shoots as “sprouts”.  I just prefer “shoots” for the rhyme, but when shopping, look for sprouts.  But what sprouts should you look for?

I suspect that the most common sprouts are bean sprouts.  Bean sprouts, in case the obvious has never occurred to you, are baby bean plants.  These are popular principally because almost everyone has eaten dishes with them in at Chinese restaurants.  And many people have made sitr-fries at home from them.

But few people eat bean sprouts raw in their salad.  Mm-mm…they add a crunchy nutty flavor, perfect with some shaved almonds or walnut peoples (maybe also with some crunchy apple slices).

I first tasted alfalfa sprouts in a sandwich bar in Victoria, British Columbia, a couple decades ago.  Not just in a sandwich bar, but in a sandwich.  Yes, most sprouts go great on hamburgers, chicken sandwiches, even hot dogs.  But most often, alfalfa sprouts are tossed into a salad.

Studies have shown that broccoli sprouts are 30-50 times as nutrient-rich as full-grown broccoli.  So adding broccoli shoots to a salad, or to a sandwich, can make a big difference for your health.  They are not available everywhere, but any specialty fruit & veggie store should carry them.  The only drawback is that they are not very tasty, so don’t put too much (although, if you put a lot of sauce or dressing on your salad, taste is a moot point).

That covers the most common types of shoots, but there are many more.  Three of these I have had the pleasure of tossing onto my salads.

1.      Pea sprouts are exactly what they sound like, the baby pea plants.  And they taste quite light and refreshing.  From a taste perspective, these just might be the nicest additions to a salad.  And they add great variety.

2.      Sunflower sprouts are very similar to pea sprouts, light and crunchy.  A very tasty addition.  Both sunflower and pea shoots would make great additions to sandwiches, although I don’t recall trying them that way.

3.      Onion shoots are a bit like the stink weed of the shoot family.  They have this underlying taste that’s a bit like onions.  I love on ions, but I can’t say the same for onion sprouts.  Still, go ahead and try them.  Don’t let me taste buds stand between you and the onion sprouts you might quite enjoy.

So there you have it, the health-conscious eater’s guide to shooting your salad.  Trust me – this is a much better way to do it than with a machine gun.

About The Author: David Leonhardt is a social media and SO consultant, as well as a writer.  When shooting his salad, he loves to write about it (and plenty of other topics).  He also runs a ghost writer service for books, songs, speeches, press releases, blogs, letters and almost everything built from words.