You too can grow veggies in the comfort of your own home in any weather without even using any dirt. Impossible you say! Well it is not, due to the magic of sprouts.
Beans 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 $12.95, but all you really need is a mason jar with a canning ring and a piece of cheesecloth or gauze. (Next time I’m going to experiment with a plastic onion bag layered several times)
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)
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 FAQ 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). The next time I buy lentils at the Asian food store, I plan on buying the whole type, not the split ones, so I can try sprouting those as well.
So what do you do with the sprouts now that you have them? I’ll tell you tomorrow.
What great timing for your post! I’ve just been kicking around the idea of doing homemade sprouts. I’ve read a lot of descriptions of how to make them, but the photos are very helpful.
Thanks for the great step-by-step. I grow herbs year round, yet never thought to expand my indoor efforts. Now I’ve got a project–
I *love* sprouts. I’ll bet home grown sprouts are especially delicious. I’m anxious to read your recipe ideas tomorrow!
Yum! I’ll have to go get some beans. I have not done sprouts in ages. I like sprouts from mustard seeds. They have a bit of a kick.
I like to put my spouts in sandwiches in place of lettuce. I also put them on salads.
Glad you all liked it! They are really sort of fun to watch grow. It’s a science project and food all in one!
Ummm…..I GUESS it’s yummy. Elly
i’m going to get out my sprouting jar. actually, we got a playmobile garden with a greenhouse (not frugal at all!) and it has an ingenious little sprouting garden, we’ve put alfalfa in. so i was just thinking about sprouting today. i really would like to do some sunflower sprouts, they are so yummy.
we sprout the beans slightly before cooking, pintos, turtles, garbanzos, as it releases so many excellent vitamins. we also sprout almonds slightly before making almond milk, or just eating them, something we read once said 300% the calcium available! it is a wonderful process.
thanks for the reminder. the photos are great.