Microgreens as superfoods: How the inclusion of mustard, mung, and raddish microgreens influences the nutritional, functional, and sensory properties of a selected salad dish

Inadequate consumption of vegetables is a leading factor for non-communicable diseases and malnutrition. Microgreens are immature greens that have gained popularity as novel food sources with superfood potential due to their dense nutritional and functional benefits. This study aimed to determine the suitability of microgreens as superfoods to enhance overall eating quality, therefore, evaluations were conducted for the nutritional, functional, and sensory properties with the inclusion of mixtures of mustard, radish, and mung bean microgreens to coleslaw salad as a regular salad dish, as well as to determine how maturity influence on these verities. Inclusions of 15%, 30% microgreens, and pure dish (control) were subjected to sensory evaluation and comparison between the selected sample and control regarding nutritional and functional properties were examined. Results showed, in contrast to the control, the 15% inclusion reported significantly higher crude protein content (35.20 ± 2.52%), total phenolic content (17.48 ± 0.33%), total flavonoid content (38.03 ± 2.65%), and DPPH radical scavenging antioxidant activity (55.50 ± 0.82%). The findings of this study demonstrate the benefits of the inclusion of microgreens in a regular salad dish in terms of nutritional, functional, and sensory properties, moreover, it provides information regarding compositional variations within the maturity stages of selected plants.