How to Grow Sprouts

Sprouts are a nutritional powerhouse. Where else can you find such a concentration of vitamins, minerals, proteins, phytonutrients and enzymes in every mouthful? And what’s more they can be grown easily in three to six days and require no effort and very little cost. Superb (as my Dad would say).

Admittedly, when I first heard about sprouting at UPW back in 2003 I almost immediately dismissed it.

Not because I didn’t believe that sprouts would be good for me – but because I thought it would be too difficult to do at home. I can’t really remember what I thought would be involved, but I definitely remember thinking ‘oh well, this is something I won’t be able to do’.

But I was wrong. You see, what that part of UPW failed to mention – was that growing sprouts is stupidly easy and extremely cheap. In fact, sprouters start at about £3.99 and seeds start at 99p!

Brilliant. So let’s get started!

The Benefits of Sprouts

OK, I guess that the fact that sprouting is cheap and easy might not be enough of a pull for you to go out there and start sprouting like mad. You probably want to know why I am such a keen sprouter. Well, here are my reasons:

• A sprout possesses all of the energy, vitamins and nutrients and power that enables it to be transformed from a small seed into a strong plant. At this stage the nutritional value of the plant is at its highest. For example, Alfafa sprouts contain iron, magnesium, all 8 essential amino-acids, chlorophyll, vitamin A, vitamin B2, vitamin C, vitamin D, fibre and more.
• Sprouts are often much higher in concentration of nutrients than the fully grown plant too. As an example – sprouted seeds can contain 400% more protein and 3900% more beta-carotine than fully grown lettuce. A sprouted Mung Bean has the same or more vitamin A that a whole lemon, the thiamin of an avocado, riboflavin of a dry apple, niacin of a banana, and ascorbic acid of a loganberry.
• And further to the above point – due to their size you are able to eat hundreds of sprouted seeds at a time. In so many sprouts, you are eating the equivalent of hundreds of fully grown plants all at once – when else would you be able to get the goodness of one hundred mature plants in one meal?!
• Studies have also shown that broccoli and other types of sprout contain exceptionally high levels of a natural cancer fighting compound called sulforaphane (20 – 50 times more than in mature broccoli) which helps support antioxidants such as vitamin C and vitamin E.
• Sprouts are an alkalising, living food which continue to grow and gain vitamins after being harvested, which when compared to food bought at the supermarket which begins to lose their nutrient content as soon as they are picked (and are not then consumed for weeks on end) become very attractive – especially if you are trying to add more raw food to your diet.
• The nutritious value of sprouts is remarkable with sprouts containing a greater concentration of vitamins, minerals, proteins, enzymes, phytochemicals, anti-oxidants, nitrosmines, trace minerals, bioflavinoids and chemo-protectants (such as sulphoraphane and isoflavone) which work against toxins, resist cell mutation and invigorate the body’s immune system than at any other point in the plant’s life – even when the plant is fully matured.
• The abundant enzymes in sprouts also makes them easily digestible as their delicate cell walls easily release elemental nutrients.

Right, now are we ready to start growing?

How to Grow Sprouts

Growing sprouts is actually really bloody easy! Once I found out how easy it was I could not believe that I had been putting it off for so long.

It is literally just a case of wash, soak, wait, water, wait, water, wait, water, wait, eat!

Or if you buy an automatic sprouter it is just a case of wait, eat.

The cheapest (yet remarkably effective) sprouters available are the Biosnacky Large Germinator and Germinator Jar which are compact, manual sprouters which require daily watering.

At the other end of the scale are the automatic sprouters such as the EasyGreen (the best sprouter we have found), which offers automatic cleaning, rinsing, oxidisation, misting and temperature control. The automatic sprouters remove much of the work from sprouting and ensure that the sprouted seeds are grown as efficiently, effectively and quickly as possible.

However, even without an automatic sprouter, growing sprouts is still really simple and does not require any gardening skills at all!

Manual Sprouting in 6 Easy Steps:

1. place seeds in a sieve and wash thoroughly
2. soak the seeds overnight or for approximately 12 hours and then rinse thoroughly
3. place the seeds in the germinator and ensure that they are evenly spread out and not too cramped together
4. place the germinator in a well lit spot, but away from direct sunlight and keep at room
   temperature
5. water twice daily
6. after 4-6 days your sprouts are ready to harvest – rinse thoroughly and keep refrigerated (consume within 5 days)

Now What?

Now, eat and grow more!

Once your sprouts are at ready (usually 2-3 days for most varieties) you can harvest them straight from your sprouter. After harvesting, give them a rinse and eat a handful there and then. Then try to remove some of the moisture from them either by patting dry with a kitchen towel or by putting them into a salad spinner.

Remarkably, sprouts will continue to grow for a while after harvesting and they will last for around 2-3 days in an airtight container in the fridge (conveniently, about the same time as it takes to grow the next batch).

I personally use sprouts:

• Salads
• Stir-frys
• Sauces
• Juices
• Wraps
• Sandwiches

However, to make sure you gain the most nutrients possible from your sprouts – make sure you eat ’em raw. Even if you are using them in a cooked meal, just add them at the end. Cooking can destroy the enzymes that are present in sprouts and it would be a huge shame to lose this benefit.

When things go wrong…

As you can see above, growing sprouts is very easy. In fact, the only thing that can possibly go wrong is that your sprouts could become mouldy.

This can happen at two stages and it is very east to avoid:

1. When growing the sprouts make sure they don’t get too damp and too hot. After soaking, rinse the seeds before putting into the sprouter, be sure to only rinse twice a day and do not keep them at a temperature above 22 degrees.
2. After harvest, be sure to rinse the sprouts every 24 hours – as the excess damp can become stale in the fridge.

Unfortunately – if you encounter any mould it is important that you throw the whole batch away and thoroughly wash your sprouter before starting again.

IMPORTANT: make sure you don’t get overly paranoid though and mistake the fine white hairs on some sprouts for mould.

So there you have it! As easy as 1-2-3.

If you have any questions at all about sprouts, sprouters or sprouting then just holler in the comments below or post your thoughts in the forum

And if you are keen to get started straight away – I can’t think of a better place to start than right here.

References:

Websites:

ISGA
Sprout People
Daily Mail Sprouts/Cancer Article
Healing Daily

Journals:

http://carcin.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/16/4/969
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/jafcau/1996/44/i11/abs/jf9602535.html
http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/full/13/7/1199
http://www.annalsnyas.org/cgi/content/abstract/963/1/247
http://cebp.aacrjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/10/5/501
http://www.pnas.org/cgi/content/full/94/21/11149
http://pubs.acs.org/cgi-bin/abstract.cgi/jafcau/2001/49/i05/abs/jf0014821.html
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=9584498&dopt=Citation
http://jncicancerspectrum.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/abstract/jnci%3b91/7/605