Sprouts!
I’m mad about sprouts. I love the crunch. I love the flavors. They all taste different. And most of all, I love that I can make them at home and have them available. So why not get some sprouts started to add a bit of crisp to your meals!
I usually have three types of sprouts going at once. Today I have broccoli, radish, and mung bean sprouts. I use a sprouting jar and sprouting trays. You can make sprouting jars using a ball jar and a lid insert from fine meshed plastic. You can transform just about any jar into a sprouting jar by poking holes in the lid. The holes need to be big enough to drain water but not so big that the seeds fall through. Or you can buy a sprout jar lid or sprout trays.
Here are some tips and links to make sprouts at home. All you need is a sprouting jar and some seeds or beans. Most beans and a bunch of different seeds will sprout: adzuki, cabbage, chives, red clover, fenugreek, garbanzo, lentil, soy, mustard, peas, radish, broccoli, and black sunflower. Mung beans and alfalfa are the most common sprouting seeds found in stores. Give it a try, if you have any of these beans or seeds in your house. In Anchorage many of these are at the grocery, Mill and Feed, or Natural Pantry. I opt for local but you can order mixes or single variety sprout seeds online.
To get your sprouts going:
Place 1-2 tablespoons of seeds in your jar, and cover with two inches of warm water. Let the seeds sit in the water for 6 hours.
Drain the water, using a fine sieve or cheesecloth.
2-3 times a day, rinse the seeds by adding water to your jar, swishing the seeds around, and draining.
Repeat every day until your sprouts are the desired size.
The seeds will shed their hulls when they sprout. Some hulls don’t affect the flavor or texture. I don’t like hulls in my mung bean sprouts and get rid of them using a salad spinner. To get rid of the hulls of any sprouts, spin them in a salad spinner. Then submerge them in cold water, swishing them around and pushing them into the water so the hulls float to the top. Pour off the water and the hulls and repeat until no more hulls float to the top. Drain the water using the strainer portion of the spinner. Give your dehulled sprouts a few spins, discard the water, and store the sprouts in the fridge to eat with most anything.
Give this a try. Then try some new types. You will be surprised by how each sprout tastes.