Sprouting

Regenerative Subsistence Flora Food & Medicine
#1

For those who put aside some seeds and want a bit more variety in fresh veggies during the winter, sprouting is a pretty good idea. The sprouts are generally healthier than the seeds themselves are, having something to do with activating proteins. Chickens raised on sprouted grains instead of dry grains grow larger and healthier, while consuming much less of the grains themselves. Here’s the process (slightly modified from Matthew Stein’s When Technology Fails: A manual for self reliance and planetary survival:

  1. Measure out the amount of seeds you want to sprout (I have a chart with recommended amounts and stuff for a bunch of commonly used seeds, I’ll see if I can get it scanned). Use only untreated whole seed, preferably organic. Inspect and pick debris out of seed.

  2. Place seeds in quart jar (or sprouting tray) half filled with warm water (preferably unchlorinated). Cover jar with nylon stocking, cheesecloth, screen, or towel and rubberband in place.

  3. Soak overnight. Drain and rinse with cool water (always rinse with cool water). If you use tap water, let water sit in an open container for a few hours before using, to get rid of chlorine.

  4. Keep warm and covered with cloth, or keep in a cabinet, while germinating. For greener sprouts, give more light as they grow, but always keep them out of direct sunlight. For whiter sprouts, keep out of the light. Experiment to find how you think they taste best.

5.Rinse and drain well two to three times a day to keep sprouts from spoiling or souring.

Personal tastes may vary, but peak nutritional value is reached in two or three days. They can last in a refrigerator for a week or so.

Bon apetit.

#2

I have found a very similar recipe for sprouted quinoa. I can’t remember if they need to be kept out of the light or not (it’s written down somewhere & I haven’t tried it yet.)

Dan, I’m wondering which seeds you’ve tried and what you liked the best? What are the most common seeds to sprout and eat?

#3

Yea, sprouting directions are pretty similar no matter what the seed. The book I got it all from has a chart with variant times and number of rinses per day and all that stuff, each for a number of common seeds.

So far I’ve sprouted lentils, which were good, and I’m in the process of a batch of black beans. They should be done in a couple days. I’ll fill you in then.

#4

alflafa, mung beans, wheat, radish, clover

#5

Sadly, I have to say that my update on the bean sprouts isn’t helpful. While rushing off to school the other day, I forgot to do the morning rinse. By the time I got home they were moldy. I’ll try again with mung beans or something soon.

#6

If you can find dried seedheads of some nonnative thistle, do it with them. Most thistle seeds are quite small, but sprout quite large and tasty. My fav is milkthistle. mmmm (mouthwatering)

#7

One thing that can help with sprouting is a sprouter setup that involves filling a water reservoir once a day that continually rinses the sprouts. One of my mom’s friends is constantly sprouting beans in one.

This one seems reasonable:

#8

I made a sprouter out of a couple old plastic water bottles, and sprouted some mung beans in them. Using the sprouter made the whole process a lot easier, and the mung beans ended up sprouting to many times their size. Under a half cup of dried beans came out to many cups of sprouts.

Now I just need to figure out enough recipes to use up all the sprouts I have.

#9

Here’s a picture of the newest sprouter setup I made, bigger than the first one I made. It’s just a 2 liter bottle turned upside down and placed in a tall deli container. The bottom of the bottle has been cut off and turned right-side-up again to make a reservoir for water. In the bottom of the bottle and in the cap I punched a few very small holes for water to drip from. After the water from the top reservoir drips through and rinses the seeds, it is held in the deli container.

#10

Dan, have you ever grown sprouts in a bag? I usually use a jar and I haven’t had much luck with it. A few years ago someone told me to use a dark muslin bag, but I’ve never tried and it and I’m leery of it.

#11

I haven’t, but a friend of mine was talking about getting one. I’ll let you know if he has any success.