Planting Guide – Starting Sprouts from Seed

Sprouts are one of those easy to grow, ready in days {like about 5 days}, year round sort of crops.  You can toss them onto sandwiches {“Hello egg salad sandwich, you look lonely. Have some sprouts.”}, into stir fry, or just toss them onto a salad for extra oomph.

Over the years, I have grown a pretty wide variety of sprouts:

• Fenugreek
• Alfalfa
• Basic sandwich mix
• Mung bean
• Garbanzo bean 

They have all been equally delicious.  You really can’t go wrong.

How to Grow Sprouts from Seed:

I personally use a sprouter.  It’s the easiest way to get several different varieties of sprouts.  I used to use a plain old mason jar, and it totally works, and it is a great place to start before you make the investment, but I grow sprouts regularly enough that the sprouter just made sense.

Start by disinfecting your seeds.  Mix a bleach mixture of 1 cup hot tap water to 1 tsp. of bleach.  Dump the seeds into the solution and allow them to soak for 15 minutes.  When the 15 minutes are up, drain the bleach mixture and rinse the seeds {a mesh sieve lined with a paper towel works well for this}.

Place a teaspoon of seeds on each tray or compartment of the sprouter.  Stack the trays, and add about 1 cup of water to the top of the tray.  Now get that bad boy out of direct sunlight, and wait for the water to drain through the seed trays into the collection try below.  When the water has trickled all of the way through, empty the tray, and pour fresh water over the top again.

You will repeat this step about every 12 hours for the entire 5 days the sprouts are growing.  {If you use the jar method use only enough water to cover the seeds to about three times their depth.  Rinse the seeds, drain them, and return them to the jar every 3-4 hours–each time covering them with water again.}

When are Sprouts Ready to Harvest?

Sprouts are usually ready in about 5 days.  To harvest them, just rinse them well and eat the whole thing.  {For Fenugreek sprouts, they are usually best when eaten BEFORE the leaves appear.}

Random Facts That Will Impress No One:

Sprouts are really just the tiny beginnings of a plant.  Several varieties of plants can be turned eaten as sprouts.  Sprouted seeds pack a much more bio-available nutrition punch than the seed itself–which really just means that “sprouting” makes the nutrients contained in the plant/seed more accessible for our bodies.

Sprouts contain beneficial enzymes that aid in digestion and boost metabolism.  They are a great source of fiber and protein.  They are supposed to be fantastic for weight loss, because you can eat a boatload of them for very, very few calories; all of that fiber helps you feel full too, even though you haven’t consumed a ton of calories.

Sprouts have a pretty impressive amount of lysine–which aids in healing cold sores {and preventing them}.

These little greens obviously pack a powerful nutritional punch {and for pennies}.  Have I convinced you to try growing them this year?  Or do you already?

~Mavis

P.S. For a complete guide to using sprouts in your kitchen, check out Sproutman’s Kitchen Garden Cookbook.  It will walk you through sprouted everything!