Friday, April 6, 2012

Sprouts!

Every year by early March I start seriously craving greens. While I'm grateful for the nutrition supplied by overwintered root vegetables, I miss the aliveness of fresh-from-the-earth lettuce, spinach, green onions...

So while I'm still waiting on the cold frames, I've been feeding my cravings with sprouted seeds -- a delicious and easy way to add fresh crunch to a meal and vitamins, live enzymes and nutrients to your diet year-round.


While you can buy sprouts at most grocery stores, it's easy and inexpensive to sprout seeds at home, and you don't need any fancy equipment.

I bought mung beans (see photo) and a sprouted seed mix containing red clover, radish, alfalfa, and red & green lentils from my local health/bulk food store.


Simply scoop approximately 2 tablespoons of seeds into a glass mason jar. In the photo I used 500 ml jars, but I should have used 1 litre jars (the 500 mls ones were handier). Cover the seeds with water then soak "all day" (instructions vary between six and 10 hours).


Drain the water, then rinse again.

Cover the top of the jar with a breathable lid (cheesecloth/screen mesh/fine cloth/pantyhose). Rinse the sprouts with fresh water at least twice daily (more frequently if it's hot or humid outside).

On the fourth day, move the jars into sunlight to encourage green leaves to form. On the fifth day harvest, rinse one last time, and store in the fridge in an airtight container. Use within four days


I've been adding these to salads, wraps, sandwiches, rice -- anywhere that can use a little crunchy boost. And at this time of year when the chore list is long and the hours in the day (seemingly) short, I'll take any boost I can get!

3 comments:

Marina@Picnic at Marina said...

Your sprouts looks so crunchy and delicious! LOve sprouts!

Mama Pea said...

We've eaten a hay of a lot of sprouts in our day, but I can't tolerate mung bean sprouts. Don't know what it is about their taste that makes me want to run away and hide. My favorite sprouts? Lentil and radish! Mmmmm, good!

Erin said...

I love sprouts! I finally got my first decent lettuce harvest yesterday so I hope we start having all this yummy green salad stuff regularly now!

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