Healthy Living: Sprouting
Over the course of quarantine, I fell in love with sprouting. It is delicious, fun, pragmatic, super healthy, and only costs pennies for a fresh, nutritionally packed meal.
It’s easy to get started and the sprouts only require a minute or two to take care of daily.
As a fresh, living food, sprouts are packed with nutrients and enzymes that make them healthy and easy to digest. In Ayurveda they would be classified as high in prana (energy).
Positive mindset starts with healthy, easily digestible, nutritious food.
In a nutshell, you soak legumes / seeds overnight, then rinse and drain them twice a day for a couple days and voila!
What you need
• Mason jar or similar jar
• Sproutable seeds / nuts / legumes. I like to order from the sprouting section of www.trueleafmarket.com , although you can order from Amazon or pick them up from the grocery store (just make sure they are raw).
• (optional) grate lid to allow for easier rinsing+draining
• (optional) inverted mason jar stand to allow for optimum draining, a tray to drip in to is nice as well. I like this kit from True Leaf Market, though you will also want a dish or tray to catch the water. There are also kits that have everything together such as this one on Amazon.
Instructions
• Measure about 1/2 - 1 cup of legumes/seeds for buckwheat, peas, or lentils and add to a mason jar. I usually mix two kinds of sprouts together in the jar, with 1/3 - 1/2 cup each. For alfalfa, one serving is 2 tbsp as it expands rapidly.
• Fill the jar with water. I usually fill it to the top as many of the sprouts will expand as they rehydrate.
• Soak overnight or ~8 hours. Here I have 1/2 cup of green lentils with 2 tbsps of alfalfa seeds. It’ll make one very sizable salad
• Let soak 8 hours or overnight. Use the grate lid to allow air flow or, if using a regular mason jar lid, leave it propped open.
• Rinse and drain the jar, then place on the dripping tray. This is to help ensure proper drainage which increases germination and growth. It is not required, you can still get great sprouts by keeping the jar upright.
• Rinse and drain twice a day for 2-3 days. The sprouts are good to eat as soon as they start sprouting tails, but you can let them grow a bit longer if you’d like.
• Rinse and drain 2x/day
• Let them grow for 2-3 days. Using a draining setup helps to improve growth, but is not necessary
• Once the sprouts start growing tails they are ready to eat, though you may let them grow longer
• Rinse and drain one last time, then enjoy them! Sprouts can be cooked, dehydrated, or enjoyed fresh and raw for maximum nutritional, energetic benefit. I like to eat them raw and dress them up with seasonings, oils, vinegar, nutritional yeast, seeds, nuts, veggies, dried fruit, etc. Experimenting with different combinations has been a lot of fun!
Alfalfa sprouts and green lentils with walnuts, raisins, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, olive oil, and apple cider vinegar. So tasty and healthy!
That’s it! I like to have three jars going at the same time, offset by a day of growth so I have a fresh batch of sprouts every day.
So far I’ve had great luck with the following sprouts:
Mung Beans
Alfalfa
Green Peas
Soybeans
Buckwheat
Green Lentils
Red Lentils
Chickpeas
Brown rice (long grain is best)
Peanuts
Almonds
