Sprouts!

A little while ago my sister sent me this link from care2.com about growing your own sprouts. I was intrigued; I had never really thought about growing sprouts although I had heard of others doing it. I did a little bit more research. It turns out that turning seeds like lentils or beans into living sprouts not only provides an inexpensive and easy source of vegetable matter at any time of year, but  vastly improves the seeds' vitamin content and digestibility.

This page at freedomyou.com does a good job of explaining the amazing chemical changes that occur when a seed sprouts which render it healthier for us and easier to digest than when it is just cooked. This page also gives us this neat tidbit of information:

In 1940, the United States Army sponsored a full investigation on sprouted seeds, studying their usability as food during war. During World War 1, the British Army sprouted beans to ward off scurvy in the trenches. When building the trenches, they calculated the sprouting area needed to feed a battalion.

You learn something new every day! 

For my first attempt at sprouting, I chose lentils, since I already had some organic brown lentils that had been lingering in the pantry for a while. I found some instructions for sprouting lentils specifically in Carla Emery's Encyclopedia of Country Living--there's a link to it on your left, it's an amazing book! I placed about a third cup of rinsed lentils in a clean pickle jar, covered them well with water, placed a double layer of cheesecloth over the jar with an elastic band, and let the jar sit over night. This soaking is necessary to begin the sprouting process--but the seeds would quickly rot if you just let them sit under water all the time.

So the next morning, without removing the cheesecloth I poured out the water, refilled it, and poured it out again, trying to make sure it was drained well and that some of the lentils were up on the sides of the glass, like this:

Then I continued to rinse the sprouts in this way 2-3 times per day. I kept the jar in the cupboard because Carla Emery told me you would get white sprouts that way; leaving the jar out where light can reach it would give you green sprouts. Apparently (according to the freedomyou.com site which I linked to above), sprouts created in darkness have more vitamin B2; but green sprouts have chlorophyll and more vitamin C. So they're both good!

I can't remember if it was 4 or 5 days later, the sprouts were done:

I think actually 1/3 cup of lentils was too much for this jar. As you can see, they were pretty tightly packed in there!

Here's a closer look:

Pretty cool, eh? I was impressed that my first attempt actually worked so well. Shortly after I started these sprouts, I tried sprouting some black beans which I had in my cupboard--but these did nothing. I'm not sure if it was because they were too stale or because they had been treated with something...I think to be safe I'll stick with organic lentils and beans from now on (which I should do, anyway).

What I did with these sprouts, was stirfry them with a bit of sesame oil, garlic and soy sauce, added some chow mein noodles into the mix, and instant lunch! It was quite tasty, and easy too. The sprouts added a delightful chewy crunchiness to the noodles. I'll definitely try sprouting again. I look forward to trying more kinds of sprouts. Does anyone have any recommendations? Please, share your experiences with home sprouting, I'd love to know. :)

Comments

[Missus @ Escape to the Farm]

I have never done any sprouting, but it looks interesting.

It might be especially tasty in the winter, when it's so hard to find tasty fresh produce.

[Garden Mama]

I have only done lentils they are great for snacking too!
This is such a great process and end result!

[LivingOurWay]

I have had jar that I bought with a special top to do this for a while and it just sits. I figured I'd wait until we couldn't grow outside and then we'd still have something homegrown. Those look really good though..maybe I'll start sooner.

[Michelle]

Thank you for posting this. I have wanted to try sprouting for a while, but was planning on purchasing a spendy kit. I do have canning jars and cheesecloth already - so, I think I'm on my way. I'm happy to see it turned out so well for you. You may want to check out www.sproutpeople.com for info about different seeds.

[Laura Jeanne]

Thanks for the tip Michelle--I'll be sure to check out that website. :)

[Femmesteader]

Could you mix this in to bread dough? that might be an interesting thing to try...hmmmm

[Laura Jeanne]

Good question, I don't know. I've heard of grinding dried sprouts and adding them to bread, but not fresh sprouts. :)