A year ago my mom bought me some sprouting seeds and these sprouting jar tops:
I tried once and failed. I really don't know how I messed up because this is honestly the easiest way to garden in the world! Well I decided to give sprouting a second chance and signed up for a workshop at the Women's day my church put on. Julie taught me everything I needed to know to start and I'll share that with you because I think this is the coolest thing ever (and she said we can/should spread the word). So, are you ready?!
You'll need a wide mouth quart jar with tops (you can substitute these plastic tops with cheesecloth) and sprouting seeds. You already have everything else! Julie bought her seeds at http://www.handypantry.com/ but ye of little faith can buy them in smaller quantities at local health food stores.
Now that the hard part is done...
Preparation
1. Put 3 tbps of seeds in your jar, fill it with tepid water, screw the lid on (mostly so that if it gets knocked over by a careless child you don't lose all your seeds!)
2. Soak overnight. (12 hrs)
3. The next morning, drain the jar.
2-3 times a day for 3-4 days or until ready to eat
1. Rinse the seeds by filling the jar with water, swirl everything around, and drain.
2. Prop upside down at an angle into a tupperware (so excess water drains).
3. Cover with cloth.
4. Place by your sink so you remember to do it again!
*Start with the yellow top so the seeds don't fall out as you rinse. Progress to the green and red tops as your sprouts grow. Then the seed hulls will be washed out as you rinse.
Once your seeds are sprouted to satisfaction, you can place them in indirect sunlight so they develop chlorophyll and look all green and pretty. Then don't forget to refrigerate them! You can eat these in salads, sandwiches, stir fry, or even from the jar - but that's a little lazy... Seriously guys, this takes less than a minute a day! I'm hardly an expert, so check out these guys, or these guys, if you want more detailed and cumbersome instructions.
This one jar is enough for the two of us for a week!
There are alfalfa, cabbage, lentil, mung, radish, wheat berry, garlic, soybean, sunflower, garbanzo, pea, kale, rye, brown mustard, spelt, clover, peanut, broccoli, chia, adzuki, kamut, buckwheat, wheatgrass, onion, and fenugreek seeds. And those are the only ones I've heard of! Plus any combination of seeds. So which kind do you buy? I can recommend lentil, alfalfa, adzuki, garbanzo, mung, and green pea. Radish is a little too spicy for me, though if it's in a combo, I don't mind it so much. My favorite combos are the protein powerhouse and the crunchy lentil fest from handypantry. The one pictured above is the 3 part salad mix - broccoli, alfalfa, and radish - it's great too.
An experiment in frugality
Did I mention this is quite inexpensive? Stores sell sprouts at $.50-$.90 an oz. I just made about 9 ounces of sprouts from 1 ounce of seeds (3 TBSP). That would range from $4.50 to $8.10 at a store. Let's say you buy a 16oz bag of this 3 part salad mix from handypantry; just the one bag because you're a little hesitant. Well, it costs 9.99 and shipping is 8.53 (so I recommend you buy more to make your shipping more worthwhile! but just bear with me...) so that comes to $18.52. That's $1.15/oz of seeds or $0.13 for an oz. of sprouts. So even though you essentially doubled the cost buy paying shipping (which you wouldn't do in real life, because you would buy more than just one bag, right?), you're still at a fifth of the cost of what you would pay in the store!
Let's summarize and assume you're buying more than just one bag AND paying for shipping:
Store: $0.50-$0.90/oz of sprouts or $4.50 to $8.10 for this jar of sprouts
You: $0.07-$0.13/oz of sprouts or $0.70 to $1.15 for this jar of sprouts
If you're still reading and you're not convinced
This is fabulous food storage. Think about it. Fresh food storage. There is no such thing. Oh, but here it is! Fresh, nutritious produce in 4 days. "Just add water."
Okay, I think I'm a little too excited, I'm going to sign off now.
I tried once and failed. I really don't know how I messed up because this is honestly the easiest way to garden in the world! Well I decided to give sprouting a second chance and signed up for a workshop at the Women's day my church put on. Julie taught me everything I needed to know to start and I'll share that with you because I think this is the coolest thing ever (and she said we can/should spread the word). So, are you ready?!
You'll need a wide mouth quart jar with tops (you can substitute these plastic tops with cheesecloth) and sprouting seeds. You already have everything else! Julie bought her seeds at http://www.handypantry.com/ but ye of little faith can buy them in smaller quantities at local health food stores.
Now that the hard part is done...
Preparation
1. Put 3 tbps of seeds in your jar, fill it with tepid water, screw the lid on (mostly so that if it gets knocked over by a careless child you don't lose all your seeds!)
2. Soak overnight. (12 hrs)
3. The next morning, drain the jar.
2-3 times a day for 3-4 days or until ready to eat
1. Rinse the seeds by filling the jar with water, swirl everything around, and drain.
2. Prop upside down at an angle into a tupperware (so excess water drains).
3. Cover with cloth.
4. Place by your sink so you remember to do it again!
*Start with the yellow top so the seeds don't fall out as you rinse. Progress to the green and red tops as your sprouts grow. Then the seed hulls will be washed out as you rinse.
 |
| step 2 |
 |
| step 3 |
Once your seeds are sprouted to satisfaction, you can place them in indirect sunlight so they develop chlorophyll and look all green and pretty. Then don't forget to refrigerate them! You can eat these in salads, sandwiches, stir fry, or even from the jar - but that's a little lazy... Seriously guys, this takes less than a minute a day! I'm hardly an expert, so check out these guys, or these guys, if you want more detailed and cumbersome instructions.
This one jar is enough for the two of us for a week!
There are alfalfa, cabbage, lentil, mung, radish, wheat berry, garlic, soybean, sunflower, garbanzo, pea, kale, rye, brown mustard, spelt, clover, peanut, broccoli, chia, adzuki, kamut, buckwheat, wheatgrass, onion, and fenugreek seeds. And those are the only ones I've heard of! Plus any combination of seeds. So which kind do you buy? I can recommend lentil, alfalfa, adzuki, garbanzo, mung, and green pea. Radish is a little too spicy for me, though if it's in a combo, I don't mind it so much. My favorite combos are the protein powerhouse and the crunchy lentil fest from handypantry. The one pictured above is the 3 part salad mix - broccoli, alfalfa, and radish - it's great too.
An experiment in frugality
Did I mention this is quite inexpensive? Stores sell sprouts at $.50-$.90 an oz. I just made about 9 ounces of sprouts from 1 ounce of seeds (3 TBSP). That would range from $4.50 to $8.10 at a store. Let's say you buy a 16oz bag of this 3 part salad mix from handypantry; just the one bag because you're a little hesitant. Well, it costs 9.99 and shipping is 8.53 (so I recommend you buy more to make your shipping more worthwhile! but just bear with me...) so that comes to $18.52. That's $1.15/oz of seeds or $0.13 for an oz. of sprouts. So even though you essentially doubled the cost buy paying shipping (which you wouldn't do in real life, because you would buy more than just one bag, right?), you're still at a fifth of the cost of what you would pay in the store!
Let's summarize and assume you're buying more than just one bag AND paying for shipping:
Store: $0.50-$0.90/oz of sprouts or $4.50 to $8.10 for this jar of sprouts
You: $0.07-$0.13/oz of sprouts or $0.70 to $1.15 for this jar of sprouts
If you're still reading and you're not convinced
This is fabulous food storage. Think about it. Fresh food storage. There is no such thing. Oh, but here it is! Fresh, nutritious produce in 4 days. "Just add water."
Okay, I think I'm a little too excited, I'm going to sign off now.
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