Jun 302010
 

Have you ever struggled with the discipline of rinsing your sprouts twice a day? Maybe forgotten, and had to throw the smelly mess away? Don’t despair, there’s an easy way to get all that live nutrition without only one rinse!

Sprouted seeds, pulses, grains and nuts are highly nutritious: they are living foods with all their vital force present, and as embryonic plants they are loaded with the enzymes our bodies need to carry out a myriad of processes. They also help alkalise our bodies, and are rich in minerals.

Cooked and processed foods are enzyme-poor, so many of us end up short of enzymes, and our bodies may even draw enzymes from other organs to help us digest the food we eat.

What better than to eat live, nutritious foods in the form of sprouts? As well as being nutritious, they are very tasty – with flavours ranging from the peppery radish to the nutty chick pea. I’ve also been surprised how filling they are.How to sprout the easy way

  1. Buy yourself an ‘Easy Sprout Sprouter’ at a very reasonable price from Amazon UK, or USA.
  2. Select something to sprout – my favourite is a mix of different types of lentil – green, puy and brown. [Sprouts that get mucilaginous, and therefore do need to be rinsed frequently are not suitable for this method.]
  3. Fill the inner sprouter beaker to about one third full with eg lentils, and place inside the outer beaker.
  4. Add water to almost fill the sprouter (I use filtered water, as the sprouts will absorb the water). Put the vented lid on, and leave to soak overnight.
  5. Empty the excess water, take out the inner beaker with the sprouts and rinse very thoroughly under the tap. Drain the excess water by shaking the beaker containing the lentils..
  6. Replace the vented lid, and leave the sprouts to grow until the shoots are about the same length as the lentils. This takes 2-4 days depending on the temperature. I keep my sprouter on a sunny window ledge.
  7. Once the sprouts are ready, store in an airtight container in the fridge. You can use the sprouter itself with its sold lid, or another container.

Your sprouts will easily keep for a week in the fridge.

Easy, eh?

Eating your sprouts!

Now for the good part! Because your sprouts are still alive, they have not lost any of the nutrients as happens with so many transported fresh foods.

Sprouts are good in salads, sprinkled on soups, as an addition to wraps, or even as part of your juice. You can also use them as the base for making pates and dips, like hummus.

It’s good to eat a variety of different types of sprout, to benefit from a range of nutrition.

The Delicious Nugget: Sprouts are highly nutritious, live foods, that you can easily grow with a minimum of effort.

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  4 Responses to “Easy Sprouting”

  1. i am new to sprouting and am ready to harvest my first batch! however, the sprouts look amazingly fresh, no mushy ones at all, but they smell horrible! i am using a broccoli/alfalfa blend…any thoughts? should i eat them?

    • Welcome to sprouting Sarah!

      Your sprouts shouldn’t smell yucky, so I would discard them and start again. Unlike lentils, broccoli and alfalfa need to be well rinsed and throughly drained every 8-12 hours – or they do get smelly, I know I’ve had the same problem. Since lentils are so easy and with the Easy Sprouter don’t need rinseing and draining, you might like to give them a try. Good luck!

      Joyfully, May

  2. Here’s where I got information on sprouted seeds, grains, etc.

    http://www.westonaprice.org/faq/785-faq-grains-seeds-nuts-beans.html

    Here are two questions directly relating to sprouting taken from the articles at this link:

    Q. Please tell me if I should consume sprouted soybeans and other beans?

    A. We don’t recommend soybean sprouts as the toxins are still there and soybean sprouts were not consumed in Asia. They used mung beans for sprouting. Sprouting increases some nutrients but also some toxins (which protect the sprouts from animals eating them). Also remember that in traditional societies, the grains and legumes that were sprouted were then cooked.

    Q. What are the irritating substances found in sprouts? Do micro-greens contain any problems?

    A. The worst one is canavanine, in alfalfa sprouts–you will find disagreement about this on the internet, but it really is not a good thing. Most sprouts should be cooked or steamed before being eaten–that will get rid of a lot of problematic components.

    With all good wishes, Celeste

    • Thanks Celeste!

      As with most foods, there are differing views on sprouts! My suggestion would be to start with the commonly sprouted beans, such as mung beans.

      For detailed information on what you can sprout, see http://www.sproutpeople.com/. They do include soya beans, with a note that some people find them difficult to digest, so not the place to start!

      Many foods contain small amounts of poisons, so it’s good to rotate the types of sprout you eat.

      Cooking sprouts would unfortunately destroy the valuable enzymes they contain.

      It’s a good idea to introduce any new food in small quantities first to see how it agrees with you.

      Thanks for opening up this discussion Celeste!

      Joyfully
      May

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