Successful Sprouting

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Successful Sprouting

Sprouting 2

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SPROUTING HINTS from an Indoor (and Outdoor) Farmer:

Common reasons why seeds rot but do not germinate:

 

1) Old seed! Use fresh seed; buy from a store that

sells a high volume of seed specifically for

sprouting.

 

2) Chlorine in the rinse water! Take a hint from

amateur aquarists: draw gallon jars of cold water and

let the water sit for several days before you use it

for rinsing and draining your sprouts.

 

3) Inappropriate use of light! Start seeds in low

light; only for the last two or three days do they

need daylight.

 

4) Failure to rinse *and drain* your sprouts at least

twice daily. Once a day is not enough for taking

vitamins, brushing teeth or rinsing sprouts.

 

More hints at http://doctoryourself.com/sprouting.html

 

A Little Bit About Sprouts

(I have slightly edited this useful, dittoed handout

from a natural health fair in Brockport, New York back

in 1976. Author unknown.)

 

Of the vegetables we buy today, not only do most of

them have lacking nutritive requirements, but they

need more energy to get them into your home then they

will ever return in calories, protein, or vitamins.

 

Processed vegetables like frozen broccoli need energy

for planting, harvesting, processing, packaging,

storage and shipping. All the while, they are losing

vital enzymes and vitamins. Even fresh spinach looses

80% of its vitamin C with 2 days of home storage.

 

There is an alternative. Good tasting, inexpensive,

quick to grow, and easy to prepare bean, grain and

spice sprouts are that alternative. You eat them in

Chinese food, and the Chinese have known about the

medicinal and nutritive values of sprouts for

thousands of years. The ancient Chinese used sprouts

for, among other things, a laxative, inflammation

reducer, counter vinous agent (counteracting alcohol),

and antifebrile (fever reducing) substances. They are

also known to be peptic, stomachic, lenitive (pain

reducing), demulcent and expectorant. Sprouts have

saved entire populations from famine and scurvy.

 

Very simply, a sprout is a seed that is allowed to

germinate in water instead of soil. While the seeds

themselves contain much natural food value, their

nutritive value increases several fold when allowed

the three to five days it takes them to sprout. Niacin

multiplies three times in most bean sprouts.

Riboflavin at least doubles. The vitamin C content of

one serving of sprouts equals the minimum daily adult

requirement. The vitamin and protein content of good

tasting sprouts rivals meat, fish, citrus fruits and

other vegetables.

 

HOW TO SPROUT

 

1. Soak your favorite seed or bean in a large mouth

jar overnight in water. (tap

water will do)

 

2. Pour off soak water in the morning and rinse the

sprouts. Let all excess water

drain off. (You are no longer soaking the sprouts, but

just keeping them

moist!)

 

3. Rinse the sprouts 2 or 3 times a day.

 

4. The sprouts will be ready to eat in 4 to 5 days.

 

HELPFUL HINTS:

 

1. Find a suitable location with a fairly constant

temperature, about 70°, such as a

kitchen shelf.

 

2. Obtain some wide mouth jars, (quart or half

gallon). These jars may be obtained free from

restaurants or food service organizations. Also

purchase some cheese cloth (available at a

supermarket, drug store, or fabric store). Lastly dig

up some heavy duty rubber bands and use them to secure

a swatch of cloth over the mouth of the jar.

 

3. When soaking the seeds/beans, use enough water to

keep them covered. The

seeds/beans will expand at least 2 times.

 

4. You may want to expose the sprouts to the sun so

they can develop their chlorophyll. The sprouts are at

the peak of their nutritional value and will be at

this optimum for the next 3-4 days. Sprouts taste best

when they are the most nutritious. Refrigeration will

help them keep. If you choose to refrigerate, rinsing

is no longer necessary.

 

5. Use soak water as a stock for soups!! It has much

nutritional value.

 

6. 1/4 cup seeds/beans yields 1 QUART sprouts. This

ratio is constant.

 

7. Seed/beans can be purchased at your neighborhood

health food store, your

neighborhood food co-op, and occasionally at

supermarkets.

 

8. Easy sprouts to start with:

Alfalfa seeds

Radish seed (untreated)

Mung beans

Lentils

Wheat berries (this is what flour comes from)

 

FESTIVITY SAUCE (for sprouts)

 

1-1/2 cup hulled sunflower seeds 3 cups water 1 medium

peeled beet (diced) (or 2-4 small beets) 1 cup chopped

red or green cabbage to taste: 3 cloves garlic, 2

lemons (6 ounces), 3 oz. soy sauce

 

Makes 5 cups and may be refrigerated up to 7 days.

 

Place seeds in blender, run until finely ground, shut

off. Add 1 c. water, blend on high until sauce

thickens, slowly pour in another cup, let thicken

again. Continue adding liquid, final product should be

the consistency of very heavy cream. Add garlic,

cabbage and beets, and blend in the color. Add lemon

and soy sauce to taste. Serve of mung, lentil, alfalfa

sprouts and greed salad.

 

Variations: replace seed with avocado, beets w/spinach

or parsley, celery, lettuce or comfrey. DURING WINTER

may use hot water, add cayenne pepper, blend in

celery, spinach, sprouts - makes delicious hot soup

for the coldest days.

 

 

Reprinted from the book FIRE YOUR DOCTOR, copyright

2001 and prior years by Andrew Saul, Number 8 Van

Buren Street, Holley, New York 14470 USA Telephone

(716) 638-5357