They taste like fully grown vegetables and are packed full of flavour — microgreens are proving to be increasingly popular in upmarket Australian eateries, which is how growing micro was what got Adam Tutt thinking big.

Not wishing to go back into cattle, which he had grown up with on the family farm, it was vegies — but not your traditional greens — that were the way to go for the young vegetable farmer near Bowraville on the New South Wales mid north coast.

After leaving the family farm and tackling major projects as a quantity surveyor in Australia and overseas, Mr Tutt came back to set up his own business.

"I travelled overseas and had a look around and the fastest turnaround crop I could find was microgreens and that was a nice opening into the local restaurants," he said.

"Microgreens are really any vegetable seed, but in this case is grown for seven to ten days and harvested ready to eat."

Microgreens are proving increasingly popular with up-market city eateries ( ABC Rural: Michael Cavanagh )

Mr Tutt grows his microgreens in a shed which is walled in on three sides with the fourth side open to the west to allow some sunlight in.

On waist-high benches, rows of trays sprout what, to the uninitiated, would appear not out of place in a health food shop.

However these seedlings are the actually the early stages of what would become well-known vegetables such as broccoli, red radish and brussels sprouts.

In this case however they do not get the chance to fully mature.

"They are traditional vegetables, but are grown to the microgreen stage, a two-leaf stage and they are ready to eat now," Mr Tutt said as he hand-watered the vegies.

"They taste like the fully grown vegetables packed full of flavour."

Adding a gourmet touch to home cooking

While they have the same taste if allowed to be fully grown, it is largely about colour and show.

"Microgreens look great on the plate," Mr Tutt said.

"We eat with our eyes — presentation is everything in the cheffing industry.

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"They add flavour, very strong flavour and beautiful presentation."

It is not just the eateries that Mr Tutt is aiming for.

The plethora of food programs on television has generated wider interest in the tiny plants.

"People like to recreate at home what they have experienced in restaurants and put that effort into their meals," Mr Tutt said.

"Microgreens allow that to be done as well."

Unique packing process

Once harvested its off to a small processing shed several metres away.

After shredding, washed and dried the microgreens are packed in punnets and delivered fresh. ( ABC Rural: Michael Cavanagh )

They are shredded and placed into the "jacuzzi" — the nickname given to an old bathtub with a series of poly pipes at the base of the tub.

They have a series of holes which enables water to be sprayed which creates a spa like effect flushing any grit from the greens.

The next stage is again improvisation.

In an old top load domestic washing machine, a plastic bucket sits and this is filled with the wet vegies.

The spin cycle is activated, and the centrifuge effect gets rid of much of the water on the vegetables.

They are then removed and placed on drying racks prior to packing.

Then it is off to the shop shelves where Mr Tutt says they have a lifespan of around a fortnight — longer than it took for them to grow.