This is time of year I start to balk at the price of fresh produce at the stores, but am sick of the veggies that are in the freezer. . . I just want something fresh, but inexpensive.
Enter the magic of sprouts!
Sprouts are an easy at home addition to your diet. There are lots of great websites like Sprout People and Primal Seeds, and they will sell you some really neat sprouting apparatus and kits like this one for $13.85, but all you really need is a mason jar with a canning ring and a piece of cheesecloth or gauze.
I spent a little over $2 for my mung beans at the bulk food store, and I probably had half again as many as are left now. (note the storage in the reused pickle jar). These are some CHEAP veggies compared to what you buy in the store, pound for pound.
1TBS of mung beans will make about 1 cup of bean sprouts. Here I placed 1TBS of beans into my mason jar and filled it with water, placing the cheesecloth and canning ring on the top. Then you just set it aside and let the beans soak for about 6-8 hours.
Next you drain the beans. I pour the water out and then leave the beans draining at an angle in the drain board. I never put mine in the dark as some places recommend and they have come out fine.
For the next week or so you just rinse and drain the beans a couple of times a day. Sprouting is fun to do with the kids, because after about the first two days they get to see the sprouts growing.
When they look big enough, you can consider them done. I let the ones in the picture above sprout for about 8 days total. The mung beans have a sort of “hull” on them that is a bit of a pain to get off. One method is to put all the sprouts into a large bowl of water and then swish them around until the hulls float and can be skimmed off. That is sort of finicky, so if I am going to be eating them cooked I just leave them on.
Completed, 1 cup of sprouts, as promised.
According to the Sprout People’s “Sprouting 101” you can sprout just about any bean or seed that you would eat the plant of. I’ve sprouted alfalfa (which are those thin ones you see on salad bars etc) the mung beans (which are what you think of as the typical oriental sprouts) and I even tried kidney beans (kidney bean sprouts MUST BE COOKED-the raw sprouts have toxins in them). I’ve also heard that you can sprout radish seeds for “spicy sprouts” that taste awesome on sandwiches or salads. . .
How many of you are “sprouters”? What are some of your favorite recipes?
Great idea. The ones in the store are never really fresh. I used to do this back in the 70’s when I was about 14. I grew them in a jar in my bedroom closet. The rest of my family thought I was positively weird. Maybe just ahead of my time!
This is great! I did this with lentils, they were delicious. I heard alfalfa is easy as well.
Beans are so versatile for a frugal group, I like to cook a huge pot of beans,plain, and freeze into freezer bags for use in various dishes as a protein sub. Then you dont have to wait for them to cook!
Of course, I have to slam the bag on the floor a few times the first time, so it’s not a brick o beans!
This post reminded me that I had some mung and adzuki beans in the cupboard just waiting to be sprouted. My 4-year old had a great time measuring them into the jar and pouring water on them. I hope he’ll eat them when they’re sprouted. =)
l’m a bit late with this comment, but there is something about late winter that makes me sprout everything l have in the house! l’m really enjoying quinoa sprouts, they’re small so l do them in a small sieve over a bowl, they sprout in a day or 2. l put them in my steel cut oats for breakfast, and salads and sandwiches. Nutritious and delicious!
I love fresh sprouts! I haven’t had much luck using cheese cloth, so I make my alfalfa and radish sprouts using a Mason jar and a small metal mesh strainer. After I rinse the seeds/sprouts, I put the jar, with the strainer over the hole, upside down over a glass to drain thoroughly.
I’ve been thinking about making some sprouted wheat bread, but I haven’t quite gotten around to it yet.
Frontier Herb (frontercoop.com) sells a plastic jar lid that fits on a quart size wide mouth canning jar. It has a plastic screen where the lid should be and screws on. The cost is about $2. They are wonderful for sprouting! Reusable and dishwasher safe too-
🙂 Beth