Sprout, don't cook. I'll show you how!
June 16th, 2009
Y’all ready for some virtual sprouting? I’m posting this because there seems to be a lot of misconceptions that sprouting is difficult, time consuming, or requires special equipment. I wrote about this last year but now I have some good pictures to share with you. You can see for yourself, sprouting is easier than cooking!
First off, why should you sprout?
1. Get more nutrition bang for your buck
Suffice it to say that more nutrients become available for your body to digest when a grain or bean is sprouted because anti-nutrients (like phytic acid) are neutralized. So, eating cooked grains is fine, but eating sprouted grains is better.
2. Do a favor for your digestion
How so? First, the germinated grain breaks down more complex carbs into smaller pieces that are easier to digest. Next, enzymes are set free by sprouting and consuming live enzymes helps the digestion process along.
If you’d like to read more abou the benefits of sprouting, read this informative article.
Ok, onto the virtual sprouting!
Step 1 – Soak overnight
At the top of the post you’re seeing whole wheat berries in a bowl covered with water. This is your first step. You only need a bowl, water, and a whole grain like wheat, spelt, kamut, quinoa, rye…or a bean like lentils or adzuki or chickpeas.
Step 2 – Drain, rinse and place back in the bowl
Yup, that’s it. Continue to rinse and drain 2 or 3 times a day.
Depending on what you are sprouting, it may take a few days to start seeing growth. In this case, my wheat berries began to sprout after the first day.
They may not all sprout at the same time…for me, the ones on top got dried out more quickly so they took longer. After another day the sprouts got bigger…
…and bigger! So what started as a dry whole grain that was impossible to eat, has turned into a tender, tasty grain that is nutritious and ready to eat. No cooking required.
At this point I gave them one final rinse, then stored in a tupperware in the refrigerator where they will last about a week.
What to do with your sprouts after you’ve lovingly grown some? You can eat them raw, for starters. In my next post I will share a recipe to do exactly that. It’s great for summer when you really don’t want to use the stove! Or you can cook with them. Think of it like using leftover rice or grains…add veggies and dressing to your sprouts for a salad or throw them into soup.
A cautionary note: Sprouts are not recommended for women who are preganant because of possible bacteria growth. (This is why the rinsing multiple times a day is important, but what’s fine for adults could not be so fine for growing babies) Also, I have read that sprouting kidney beans makes them toxic. So do a little research or use the grains/beans I suggested in this post to start.
What are you going to make with your sprouts?
