Easy Sprout™ Tips & Suggestions
Most
seed types require little more than 1-12 hours of soaking followed by
varying periods of unattended sprouting time (and no rinsing.)
Some seeds have special handling needs. For example:
Alfalfa & Salad Sprouts
Salad-type sprouts such as alfalfa, broccoli, clover, radish, etc.
are usually grown to a more mature leaf stage. Water is useful for more
than just growth - it's a way to keep sprouts from growing into a tight
compacted mass, while simplifying dehulling and rearrangement of sprouts
for uniform greening. (At each rinse, fill sprouter with lukewarm water,
loosen sprout mass with a fork, stir, skim hulls & drain.)
Due to water's "surface tension" a critical time for all tiny seeds is
after soaking. The seed mass should always be thoroughly drained, then
loosened. This will provide the proper growing room and air flow.
• Quick & Easy One-Rinse Baby Alfalfa
OMIT Alfalfa Insert. Put 3 c. warm water in Sprouter, THEN add 1/2 c.
seeds. Soak 8 hours, drain & rinse with fresh warm water. Thoroughly
drain & loosen seeds. Sprout until 1/2" (about 24 hrs). Fill sprouter
with lukewarm water and gently loosen sprout mass with a fork. (Skim any
loose hulls from top.) Drain well. Start using. Alfalfa grown by this
method will be sweeter and have a much longer refrigerated shelf life
than that sprouted to a longer stage with multiple rinses.
• Growing Long Alfalfa & Salad Types
Use the above method, then remove half the sprouts & rinse at least once
per day. Alternatively, use the alfalfa insert and 2-6 T. seed. After 8
hour soak, drain well and rinse at 12 hour intervals, to desired stage.
If desired, at the final rinse, the sprouts can be put in a large pan of
cool water to wash remaining hulls & unsprouted seeds from the sprout
mass. Remove alfalfa insert, if used, and return sprouts to sprouter for
further growth, greening or refrigerated storage.
Beans
Sprouted beans taste better, cook faster, are less gas forming, more
nutritious & versatile than unsprouted beans. Most will find only
garbanzo, lentil, mung & pea sprouts palatable fresh. (A few lentils &
mung may remain hard - be aware.)
• Garbanzos love cool (50-60 F.) temp., no
rinsing & even sprout in the refrigerator in 7-10 days.
• Mung beans like warmth. (8 oz. soaked 8
hrs. grew pound of sweet 1/2" sprouts in 8 hrs. at 107°F.) For long fat
mung use 3/4 cup beans. After soaking, invert Dome & put in 8 oz.
weight. (Don't block vents.) Rinse 2+ times/day. Grow in dark until
full. (If desired use the above pan method for dehulling.)
Buckwheat & Sunflower
The quickest & easiest way to use these two delicious varieties is in
the hulled form. Buckwheat is the most reliable, quality-wise.
• Buckwheat makes thick soak water. If the
seeds are "dusty" from hulling, get rid of the dust by swirling the
seeds in the sprouter before adding soak water. Some extra seed washing
before and after soaking helps. And thorough drainage & loosening is a
must. Ready to use in 24 hours.
• Sunflower's biggest concern is freshness,
and rancid seeds are often found in the marketplace. Look for light grey
seeds. Use within 48 hours of soaking. (Unhulled sunflower is used for
growing greens, as is unhulled buckwheat.)
Sesame
• Sesame acquires a bitter taste if
overgrown. It's most palatable with no root showing to just budded out.
As with all tiny seeds, drain thoroughly and loosen. Sprout 12 hrs.,
cool & freeze in plastic bag.
Storage Tipes
• If stored sprouts ferment (lack of oxygen) put back in sprouting mode, with dome.
• Freezing (No Rinse sprouts) puts sprouts on hold at peak vitality & facilitates grinding (without liquid) for convenient uses & better assimilation.
In his
book ENZYME NUTRITION, Dr. Edward Howell presents
compelling evidence of the importance of food enzymes
to health, vitality and longevity. He calls cooking "The
Fatal Process" because it depletes our limited enzyme
capacity. To compensate for this loss, he recommends adding
germinated, inhibitor-free, raw seeds, grains and
nuts to our diet.
Over 50 years ago Dr. Robert E. McCarrison fed rats a
heavilly cooked/processed diet. It resulted in all the
diseases & miseries of civilized society -and it turned the
rats into unhappy nervous wrecks that bit attendants and
preyed upon the weaker ones amongst them. (Sound familiar?)
Sick rats put on a high-vitality diet (including sprouts!)
were restored to health and happiness.
That's a very good reason to have wholesome, high-vitality
meals & snacks, with sprouts, daily.