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There are only a few requirements for sprouting at home. First you need seeds, either commercially available seeds from your local health food store, or a simple handful of whole wheat kernels, dried beans or lentils. Next you need a large jar. Canning jars are nice, but any kind with a wide mouth, like a peanut butter jar, works fine. Next you need a piece of loosely woven fabric like cheesecloth or nylon from pantyhose or knee-highs and a rubber band or piece of string. Finally you need water.
The method is simple. If you plan on eating sprouts on a regular basis it's a good idea to keep a couple of jars going at the same time. Start one jar and then 2 or 3 days later start another jar. Then 3 days later the first jar will probably be empty, so you can start it again. This is the best way to keep yourself in yummy green goodness. Alfalfa sprouts are the most similar in flavor to lettuce, so they are the ones I most often use for salads. There are lots of interesting mixes available though, my favorite being “Zesty Blend.” Several different companies make their own zesty blends and they all taste about the same. There is a lot written about the “mystique” of sprouts, but they aren't particularly difficult. For the most part it's just a matter of being faithful to your sprouts, rinsing them as often as they require and harvesting them as they're ready.
[Home] [GFCF Recipe Index] [Frugal Food Storage] [Biblical Womanhood] [Archived Recipe Index] [Links] [New Blog] [Old Fashioned Education] [Prairie Homemaker] [My Mother's Blog] GFCF = Gluten Free & Casein Free
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© FrugalAbundance 2007-2008
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Place
the seeds in the jar. Cover with water plus a couple of inches. Soak
the seeds overnight. Place the fabric or nylon over the top of the
jar and secure it with a rubber band or string. Drain the water from
the seeds. Rinse the seeds twice a day. Save the rinse water and use
it for washing dishes. It can even be used for hot beverages or soups
if desired. It's perfectly good healthy water, so there's no need to
waste it. In a few days your sprouts will grow. Some people like
their sprouts before they make green leaves, other people prefer
theirs with a moderate growth of green. Different sprouts take
different lengths of time to “ripen”. As a general rule you
can figure on sprouts taking between 3 and 7 days to be ready for
harvest. Don't feel you have to use them all up on the same day. You
can take a handful of them one day and leave the rest in the jar to
use at another time. Continue rinsing the sprouts twice a day and
they will keep for a few days before they start to turn slimy. When
they are really slimy, and no amount of rinsing can salvage them,
then it's time to dump them and start a new batch.