Sprouting in My Kitchen

A recurring New Year's resolution of mine is to eat better.  Another is to garden more.  Humm, how to combine my itchy green thumb with eating better in the dead of winter?

Grow some edible sprouts.  Gardening and good nutrition, all in one!

Sprouts are super nutritious. They are packed with all sorts of yummy vitamins, minerals and even chocolate - okay, there is no chocolate in sprouts, but you get the idea.  I've been told there is a wide variety of sprouts available in terms of flavor and texture: surely there is a sprout or two I'd like??!!

I recorded my first sprouting adventure via smart phone and am sharing it below.  Enjoy!

Problem #1: where to get sprout-able seeds locally? You need to find seeds that are meant for human consumption -  seeds for planting could be treated with fungicides.
 Greenstar, thankfully has a shelf dedicated just to sprout-able seeds.  Cool! 

My homemade equipment: I cut a screen out of an actual screen and fit it under the cap of the jar.  Problem #2: the clover seeds on day 1 float right through the screen.  Solution: fine mesh strainer added to my equipment list.

The initial 12 hour soak.  Boy do the seeds look small! Mung beans on the left, red clover on the right.

Day one in my "drainer" - a glass loaf pan.  These are rinsed 4 to 5 times at least twice a day throughout the process.  Being right by my sink, it's easy to do.

Day two: the mung bean sprouts are going to town!

A close up of the red clover sprouts on day 3.  There are sprouts and seed hulls all jumbled together.

Mung Sprouts on day 4 -  Look at those roots.  Time to Eat!!

Mung Bean Sprouts, lightly blanched and tossed with a vinaigrette dressing - YUMMY!!  I found the blanching converts the starchy flavor of the raw sprout to a nice sweetly bland but nutty flavor. 

Red Clover on day 5.  I've rinsed off many hulls (they float to the top) and it looks like time to bag these up and start adding them to soups and salads. 

That was fun and tasty!  I'm crowning myself Jean-Jean-the-Sprouting-machine!!

To learn more about sprouting in your kitchen, a website I'd recommend is www.Sproutpeople.org . They have videos, fact sheets and gear, if you want to go into high tech sprouting.  Jars are not the only way to sprout: you can buy tiered plastic sprouters, special mesh bags, specialized glass jars ~ I just chose an easy, on-hand option that works for me.  Here's a video on sprouting in a mason jar by the Sprout People: http://youtu.be/SKmAZw8fe7U .  Remember I used a screen I cut to size and held in place with a canning ring.  There are videos on YouTube showing sprouters made from never used fly swatters: you cut the plastic swatter-part to fit in the top of a mason jar, under the canning ring.  Interesting..... Greenstar also stocks mason jar tops modified for sprouting.  You have a lot of choices for gear!

Please note:  I can't stress enough how important sanitary conditions are for home growing sprouts.  Keep it clean, rinse often and a lot, and use sterilized equipment.  Mold grows quickly under the conditions required to sprout.  A biggie is salmonella: you do not want to get salmonella.  Be careful, out there - rinse, rinse, rinse!

Enjoy and let us know if you have sprouted and what you think. :)