Grow your own Sprouts...So Insanely Simple!!!
Sprouts! They are absolutely loaded with nutrients and are so healthy for you to eat that I wanted to post about how easy it is to grow them yourself. Excuse the language but they are so frickin’ easy to grow, it’s a no brainer in my mind to just grow my own. It takes more effort to wash a cup than to grow your own sprouts! And considering how expensive some sprouts are in a grocery store, you can make ten times or more the amount for what you would pay for a container of fresh sprouts in your local produce department.
So here are the steps I literally went through:
First, buy a wide mouth mason jar. You can get them at hardware stores, kitchen stores, amazon…they’re pretty easy to find.
Next, buy a sprouting lid (you can see the kind I bought from one of the pictures, but some are made entirely out of plastic). Again, amazon sells them, some of the better health food stores that sell produce may have them (I picked mine up at a store called Goodness Me where I regularly lecture). Other online ‘supplement’ companies may also sell them. They fit onto wide mouth mason jars (and is why you need to buy that instead of just a regular mason jar).
Next, buy sprouting seeds. I chose to grow broccoli sprouts because I really like the nutritional value and phytonutrients present in them. Again, I got mine from Goodness Me, but I’ve seen a wide variety available on Amazon and in health stores.
Next, add 2 tablespoons of sprouting seeds to the mason jar
Next, fill the mason jar with an inch or two of water, put the sprouting lid onto the jar and let the seeds soak for 5-6 hours
Next, pour the water out of the jar through the sprouting lid and give it a good shake to get as much water out as possible (as you can see, the lid is designed to let you pour the water out, while keeping the seeds in the jar...it's basically a strainer)
Next, add enough water to the jar to completely immerse the seeds, give them a good swirl to rinse, and empty the water immediately through the lid.
Next, set the jar down in a spot where it is exposed to light, but not direct sunlight – place the jar inverted so that the lid is on the bottom to allow any left over water to drain out – I found it was best to set the jar down on a bit of an angle (leaning it against something on a table) so that the lid is not resting completely flat on the table (this way some air can get into the jar and the water will drain more effectively). Putting it onto a paper towel helps keep a big puddle from forming on your table.
Next, every morning fill the jar with enough water to rinse the seeds/sprouts, give them a good swirl/rinse, drain and put back onto the spot you have established for letting them sit.
In 5 days you should have a jar full of sprouts (I did 5 days of the morning/evening rinsing and had sprouts ready to eat). You can put them into the fridge at this point.
That’s it. Nothing else added, nothing else needed.
Sprouts can be added into anything you are eating, including sandwiches, salads, blended into smoothies, etc. Apparently, if you pat-dry them with a paper towel, you can also put them into a freezer bag and freeze them if you are worried they will go bad before you can eat them all.
It literally took me a minute every day to rinse the sprouts and let them sit. So simple and so healthy! Again, I used broccoli sprouts and they turned out great. I'm not sure how well this method might work for other types of sprouts but I'm sure most of them would give a similar result.
Enjoy!
Dr. Jeff Appelmann, BSc, ND
Naturopathic Doctor
Oakville, Ontario
