My family grew sprouts a lot when I was young and we never had a sprouting container. We used a canning jar or mason jar and covered the lid with a cloth and an elastic. Put in about 1/4 inch of lentils (or other sprouting beans) and rinse as directed above. After about a week, you will have fresh sprouts. Enjoy!
Bellen
· 9 months ago
Your sprouts look terrific. Be sure to save the water, esp. from the first soak & rinse. Full of nutrients and good for soup,bread,etc or watering your plants.
Lentils sprouts, or any, can be used in stir fries, dried and ground, or not, and put in bread. Also soup as an ingredient or just as a pretty topper.
Sprouts can be used for different foods at different lengths - mostly it's a 'try it' thing as personal tastes vary.
DeeAnn
· 9 months ago
I'm so glad you posted this. I read something recently about sprouts and have been wanting to try it. Now maybe I'll give it a go. Thanks for the inspriation!
jweiss08
· 9 months ago
I went to a class on the weekend to learn more about beans and sprouts and they mentioned that doing the sprouting in the jar (and not one of the kits that had air flow at the bottome) could be dangerous due to salmonella. I'm no sprouting expert yet, but that's just want they said.... :)
tallie
· 2 months ago
I don't agree with that statement. As long as you rinse and drain and don't use contaminated water you should be fine. Most sprouting lids provide plenty of air circulation. I have an aversion to growing things in plastics although there is no data showing that it is harmful.
Elizabeth
· 9 months ago
Hi!
I was just looking at your sprouts...I am doing food storage, but I have a question...WHY SPROUTS? I'm serious. I've heard of doing this before, but why?....
Blessings, Elizabeth
Rebecca
· 9 months ago
I second Bellen. Use them in stir fry. I don't really like sprouts plain, but mixed with other flavors they are much better.
Also, we always liked eating them in the winter growing up. They add some good vitamin C at a time when (at least growing up) we ate lots of root vegetables, and much less of the fresh greens since its hard to have a garden when its 20 degrees outside. Though, I was never too much a fan of the wheat grass either. Maybe it was because it was called grass and I was 10.
Does anyone know a good sprouter for smaller seeds like alfalfa? Those are the one kind of sprouts that I would wat on anything.
Bellen
· 9 months ago
For Elizabeth - sprouts are fresh. You don't need a garden or even a windowsill. They are also full to the brim with nutrition. Check the stats on broccoli sprouts and broccoli - it's amazing.
For jweiss08 - I've been raising sprouts for about 35 years and I've never heard about a salmonella threat using a jar.
For DeeAnn - sprouting is simple and if you have kids a great way to interest them especially if you give each one a different kind of seed to sprout. A little friendly competition can be a good thing.
Morning Sunshine
· 9 months ago
my mom's stake had a preparedness fair, and the sister in charge of the sprouting booth had sprouted peanuts and almonds. I am NOT a nut fan, but these were YUMMY!!!! you need to use raw nuts, though....
CTDaffodil
· 9 months ago
Have you ever had raddish sprouts? VERY zippy - but pretty good on a salad. I'm the only sprout eater here - but now I think I may have to try and win over the kids....
Carol A.
· 9 months ago
Sprouting definitely caught my attention when I first started into food storage. The nutritional content of the sprouted seed is much higher than the unsprouted seed. ( I learned that from the food storage book "Making the Best of Basics".)
My caution, however, is about microorganism growth that can occur in warm moist places (like your sprouting container). The extension service of my state flatly discouraged sprouting unless you are planning to fully cook them afterward. I was really dissappointed to learn this. Better safe than sorry.
Sprouts are VERY good for you and are not dangerous if you do it right. You should clean the sprouting device really well in between batches, and it helps if your seeds are from a reputable source and are specifically FOR sprouting. The other cool thing about sprouting is that most of the amazing nutrition explosion happens that first night of soaking, and any additional length of time after that is really just taste preferences. So while you are growing them keep tasting them and see if you like them shorter or longer or what. I've never grown my lentils that long!
And Morning Sunshine is right! Nuts are way yummier and healthier after they've been soaked! At night I put some raw almonds (I've also done peanuts, sunflower seeds, walnuts etc) in a little dish in filtered water to soak and the next day I eat them! So much more healthy!!! and crunchy and yummy!
I've never tried the jar method yet, though I keep meaning to, but I do know that keeping the jar tilted at a 45 degree angle so that it can drain helps with the air flow. But there are a lot of great sprouters out there; I'm about to try a sprouting bag, and I'm excited to see how I like it!
megan
· 9 months ago
oh, and Elizabeth...raw food is so much healthier than cooked. Sprouts will be really important when a time comes that we need to live off our food storage. Since I can't store raw apples and carrots and etc for any length of time, my diet would be somewhat deficient if I'm only living off canned or cooked veggies. I can store sprouting seeds and grains (you can even sprout that wheat you have stored in those #10 cans!) and then when the time comes just adding those fresh raw "veggies" will really help keep my family healthy! Just something to think about!
All Comments
Lentils sprouts, or any, can be used in stir fries, dried and ground, or not, and put in bread. Also soup as an ingredient or just as a pretty topper.
Sprouts can be used for different foods at different lengths - mostly it's a 'try it' thing as personal tastes vary.
I was just looking at your sprouts...I am doing food storage, but I have a question...WHY SPROUTS? I'm serious. I've heard of doing this before, but why?....
Blessings,
Elizabeth
Also, we always liked eating them in the winter growing up. They add some good vitamin C at a time when (at least growing up) we ate lots of root vegetables, and much less of the fresh greens since its hard to have a garden when its 20 degrees outside. Though, I was never too much a fan of the wheat grass either. Maybe it was because it was called grass and I was 10.
Does anyone know a good sprouter for smaller seeds like alfalfa? Those are the one kind of sprouts that I would wat on anything.
For jweiss08 - I've been raising sprouts for about 35 years and I've never heard about a salmonella threat using a jar.
For DeeAnn - sprouting is simple and if you have kids a great way to interest them especially if you give each one a different kind of seed to sprout. A little friendly competition can be a good thing.
I'm the only sprout eater here - but now I think I may have to try and win over the kids....
The nutritional content of the sprouted seed is much higher than the unsprouted seed. ( I learned that from the food storage book "Making the Best of Basics".)
My caution, however, is about microorganism growth that can occur in warm moist places (like your sprouting container). The extension service of my state flatly discouraged sprouting unless you are planning to fully cook them afterward. I was really dissappointed to learn this. Better safe than sorry.
http://sproutpeople.com/devices/ez/easysprout.html
Sprouts are VERY good for you and are not dangerous if you do it right. You should clean the sprouting device really well in between batches, and it helps if your seeds are from a reputable source and are specifically FOR sprouting. The other cool thing about sprouting is that most of the amazing nutrition explosion happens that first night of soaking, and any additional length of time after that is really just taste preferences. So while you are growing them keep tasting them and see if you like them shorter or longer or what. I've never grown my lentils that long!
And Morning Sunshine is right! Nuts are way yummier and healthier after they've been soaked! At night I put some raw almonds (I've also done peanuts, sunflower seeds, walnuts etc) in a little dish in filtered water to soak and the next day I eat them! So much more healthy!!! and crunchy and yummy!
I've never tried the jar method yet, though I keep meaning to, but I do know that keeping the jar tilted at a 45 degree angle so that it can drain helps with the air flow. But there are a lot of great sprouters out there; I'm about to try a sprouting bag, and I'm excited to see how I like it!