More sprouting adventures.

Last week I talked about making sprouts with lentils. I thought that this was such an interesting (and tasty) experiment, that I went to The Bulk Barn last weekend and came home with some new things to sprout: mung beans and wheat berries. 

With these, I had only limited success. First, the wheat berries. They seemed to sprout just fine, and after a few days I had this:

I tasted a few, and they tasted like...well, like sprouts. But then I looked closer, and I realized that almost all of those white things were not actually sprouts, but roots. If you look closely at the picture, you can see that there are some thickish looking sprouts, which sort of come to a point, but most of the stuff is hairy white roots.

Is this what is supposed to happen when sprouting wheat? Did I do something wrong, or maybe start with the wrong kind of wheat berries? If anyone knows about this, please leave a comment and enlighten me. :)

Here is a closeup of the sprouted grain, and you can see that there are three root pieces.

Go figure!

Next I tried mung beans. As far as I know, these are the beans used to make the "bean sprouts" you can find in the grocery store. The dry beans look like this:

After sprouting a small amount them for several days, I ended up with this (I removed the green hulls):

These sprouts definitely didn't look like the bean sprouts they sell in the grocery store. Much smaller, for one thing. But maybe I'm just not a "professional" sprouter yet. I'll do some research online and see if I can figure out what (if anything) I did wrong. 

These bean sprouts, along with some more lentil sprouts, were fried along with some chinese instant noodles, making a very cheap and reasonably healthy meal for us.

I am definitely going to continue experimenting with sprouts. From what I have learned so far, I can see that they are an easy, and more importantly inexpensive, way to enjoy vegetables all year round. You don't need a yard to grow sprouts--even someone with a tiny apartment can do it. And their earthy flavour and chewy texture would be a welcome addition to all kinds of meals and salads.

Comments

[Missus @ Escape to the Farm]

I don't know the answers to these questions about sprouting.
However, they look good so please make sure you post the answers when you find them!

[Mary]

I think you waited too long on your wheat sprouts. They start tasting a bit grassy once the thicker stem grows out. The root should be about the length of your wheat berry. I've used wheat sprouts to make "manna" bread. It's actually sweet!

[Laura Jeanne]

Thank you for the tip, Mary! :)