If you can’t plant a garden– or even if you can– you can still grow sprouts. Sprouts are easy to grow, are ready to eat in 3-5 days, taste great, and are very nutritious. Best of all, you can grow them in almost any glass jar– an old pasta sauce jar for example.
Almost any kind of seeds can be sprouted, so long as they are uncooked and have their hulls intact. (Split peas, for example, won’t work.) At the grocery store you’ll find pinto beans, black-eyed peas, lentils, mustard seeds, mung beans, sunflower seeds (be sure they’re uncooked), and others. Your local health food store or online merchant can add radish, buckwheat, flax, cabbage, alfalfa, broccoli, wheat, barley, and many more. The sprouts above are a mixture of black-eyed peas, mung beans, mustard, and flaxseed.
To grow sprouts, place 1/4 to 1/2 cup of mixed seeds in the jar (the bigger the seeds, the more of them you’ll want to use). Fill the jar half full with water that is warm (not hot) to the touch, and let the seeds soak overnight. Place a piece of cloth over the mouth of the jar and secure it with a rubber band. (I’ve used paper towel, but it doesn’t breathe as well.) In the morning, drain the seeds. Then, once each day, immerse the seeds with water, swish them around gently, and drain the water out. This keeps them moist and washes away any excess starches.
Most sprouts are ready when the first small leaves appear. Use them in salads (my favorite), sandwiches, soups, stir fry, or juices. I find that the sprouts germinate at different rates, to I can use the sprouts on top first and let the seeds on the bottom continue to grow.
Growing sprouts is a great way to remind ourselves and others that food grows– it doesn’t originate in factories.
