Are you wanting a source of food that is organic, bursting with nutrients and enzymes, free from pesticides, available year round, delicious, and kind to your budget?
Look no further! Sprouts are easy to grow, you can choose the quantity you produce and you don’t even need a garden! Just a spot on your kitchen counter will do.
Sprouts are the growing shoots of seeds so are rich in enzymes, chlorophyll, vitamins, minerals and amino acids, all necessary for growth and providing us with nutrients vital for health and to help guard against degenerative processes. This is a good reason to include sprouts in our diet as the modern diet is implicated in many diseases.
How do I go about growing my own sprouts?
Start with fresh, unhulled seeds: alfalfa, lentils, mung beans and chickpeas are among the easiest to grow. Remember to buy food source seeds from the grocery store and not ones for planting from the nursery as those have been treated and are not edible. Place a small quantity in a wide-mouthed glass jar, cover with clean water and soak, usually overnight. The seeds will swell so make sure the jar is big enough! Cover the jar opening with mesh, empty out the water, rinse the seeds and empty out that water, too. Leave the mesh on and the jar angled so that the water will drain. You do not want the seeds sitting in water or they may rot. Rinse the seeds twice a day for 2 to 4 days. By day 2 you should see the shoots emerging. When they are ready, rinse again and store in the fridge, right way up. To enhance the chlorophyll content, you can place your sprouts in the sunlight for a few hours.
Yummy ideas for sprouts
Sprouts are at their tastiest and most nutritious when raw. Add them to salads, to sandwiches, vegetable juices or use as garnish. You can also add them to stir fries and omelettes.
Quick Salad
A selection of lettuce greens
Avocado, chopped
Cucumber rings, quartered
Handful of sprouts
Mix the avocado, cucumber and sprouts and arrange on a bed of lettuce. Garnish with some fresh parsley, drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Bon apétit!
References
Vaughan-Scott, C Whole Energy 1985
Reid,N and Marten, N Easy Living Food 2012
Estelle Gaylard
