Grow Microgreens & Herbs in Your Kitchen with Carter-Hoffman GardenChef

One culinary trend that's been making its way from upscale restaurants to casual eateries lately is the use of microgreens to add interesting pops of color and flavor to all sorts of dishes. Microgreens are young versions of common greens like kale, arugula, lettuce, and beet greens that are valued for their intense flavors and high nutrient content. Creative chefs use microgreens to garnish dishes and top salads and sandwiches. Microgreens have traditionally been sourced from specialty growers, but the Carter-Hoffman company is changing that with its new series of GardenChef growing cabinets.

With GardenChef cabinets, innovators at Carter-Hoffman seek to redefine the concept of "hyperlocal" produce by equipping chefs to grow microgreens and herbs inside their very kitchens. These cabinets are about the size of a reach-in refrigerator and can be set up in the kitchen, in the dining room, or in another customer-facing area. They're built of attractive steel and have grow lights that not only promote growth of the greens, but also brightly illuminate the cabinet to make them a focal point.

Three Major Benefits of Using a Grow Cabinet

Investing in a growing cabinet has many benefits over obtaining microgreens from traditional sources:

1. Grow greens year round. The controlled climate of a microgreen grower provides ideal growing conditions 365 days a year. You'll never lose a crop due to heat or drought, and greens grow faster in one of these cabinets than they do outdoors because they have access to perfect levels of light and nutrients at all times.
2. Produce is 100 percent organic. When you grow your produce in a growing cabinet, you have no pests to contend with. That means there's no need for pesticides, so you can proudly serve microgreens and herbs that are 100 percent organic.
3. Produce is nutrient dense. Many types of produce begin to lose their nutrients and flavor within hours of being harvested. With a grow cabinet, you can harvest your greens and herbs just moments before they're served, offering guests the freshest produce they've likely ever had.
4. Give chefs menu control. With a grow cabinet, chefs are able to grow exactly the herbs and greens they want on their menus, without being at the mercy of what produce suppliers happen to have on hand.

How Does Produce Grow in a Cabinet?

Carter-Hoffman's GardenChef systems are built to provide the perfect conditions to grow abundant, nutrient-dense microgreens and herbs, all while being easy to operate. Produce is grown in traditional garden flats, and seeds can be planted in everyday garden soil or in hydroponic grow media. To imitate the sun's rays, 18-inch, high-output T5 fluorescent lamps provide light at 6,300 degrees Kelvin, exactly matching a sunny day. An automatic irrigation system delivers water and nutrients automatically to the produce, while built-in fans circulate air to give your plants a fresh environment in which to thrive.

Digital controls automate the delivery of light and water to your plants. Simply program each growing zone in the cabinet with one of 29 preprogrammed cycles depending on what you're growing; the equipment will then cycle the water and light to create the optimal conditions for that product. Carter-Hoffman's GardenChef can be filled manually or connected to a water supply.

GardenChef growers make it easy to maintain produce, since each shelf pulls out to provide full access to the herbs. The GC41 and GC42 models provide 12 inches of growing space above each of their top three shelves and 16 inches of space above their bottom shelves, while the GC12 provides 16 inches of growing space above each shelf.

GardenChef Model Comparison

Carter-Hoffman's GardenChef equipment is available in three models. Choose yours based on the volume of microgreens you'd like to grow.

GardenChef Starter Kits

Get a head start on your microgreen gardening and order the GardenChef Starter Kit along with your growing cabinet. This kit includes many of the essential accessories you'll need to get your greens off to a strong start, including growing trays, mats, and a soil sifter. A total dissolved solids (TDS) calibration kit will help ensure the equipment's water sensor remains accurate despite hard water conditions, a PH kit will help you achieve the correct balance of soil acidity, and a measuring syringe will help you portion essential nutrients.