Let bio be your sous-chef!
For decades my parents had this daily pre-breakfast ritual of a few activated nuts and a handful of sprouts. Now, I relearn these practices from books on clean, wholesome foods. So, when my mother is visiting me now, I took the opportunity to upgrade my basic tea towel sprouting. I ordered a kit, fancy mixes and converted a small real estate next to the kitchen sink into a sprouting station. You will be astonished how humble seeds, legumes, grains turn impossibly flavorful. And, no cooking required!! Even the pickiest of eaters were impressed.
Persistence is the key. Drain and rinse religiously at intervals of 12 hours. On an average beans and grains take about 2 days, while moong bean takes 3 days and seeds take 5-6 days to be harvest ready. But you can also harvest as you go (after the first soak) which makes it very convenient to sustain. Here is the simple protocol (using 3 days as an example).
Day 0 PM: Soak in plenty of water.
Days 1-3: AM & PM: Rinse and drain.
Day 4 AM : Rinse and drain. Ready to harvest. Refrigerate.
Although I am not fully convinced that you really need different geometries of sprouters, nevertheless the following may be helpful:
- Flat surface sprouter (1/2 – 1 cup moong) helps maintain the lentils in a single layer (you could even place a weight on top to aid in this) [1/2 – 1 cup]
- Mason jar with perforated lid (1 cup rye berries, wheat berries) [1/2 -1 cup]
- Bottom perforated Sprouter kit (Sproutpeople.org.). (1-2 tbsps of seeds –broccoli, mustard– , or, 1 cup peas, or, 1 cup grains)
NOTES, HINTS, TIPS:
- The 1-qt sprouter is perfect — you couldn’t possibly improve it anymore. See the description– quite sophisticated for a set that at first glance looks like takeout plastic containers.
- For the rye berries, I was not patient enough to actually see the roots. But the rye berry sprouts are sweet and delicious (you even get asked “wow, is this cooked?”) !! Use in grain salad. The wheat berries, on the other hand, were not shy and merrily displayed their roots.
See picture. - My mother was particularly impressed with the sprouting wheat berries and methi (fenugreek seeds).
Nice!! Once the sprouts are ready , would it not be better to steam them a tad before putting in the fridge/freezer ??
They are actually quite delicious without steaming or cooking– very refreshing. I am told that some nutrients may be lost by heating- but that shouldn’t stop one from enjoying them as one likes such as by steaming or cooking.
ok..point noted ! I was only saying steaming to increase its usage period once in the fridge, by atmost a couple of days….
Agreed. Good point. Thank you.