Sprout Salads

A few weeks ago I decided to try growing my own sprouts! We’ve been enjoying having fresh sprouts every day. Today when we finished off the daily “crop” (one full quart jar of sprouts), My eldest asked if could start doing 2 jars a day!

In addition to being nutritional and culinary, it has been educational, and a perfect science unit for my children’s ages. We’ve looked at the nutrients in the different sprouts, talked about photosynthesis and the greening, the watering, and the growth process. Watching them sprout is amazing–it is just 4-6 days from dry seed to the table!

A brochure from the Sprout People, emphasizing the importance of draining thoroughly after each rinse, says, “do whatever it takes–shake, spin, bounce or dance with your sprouter…” Kendra is my primary sprout assistant, and enjoys “doing the sprout dance” to get all the water out of the jars.

The children were also amused at a line in the brochure stating, “If you want to you can talk to your sprouts and play them music.” Kaira has been improvising, “Ode to Alfalfa” and other such pieces on the piano for their benefit. Ken and I know a farming family who broadcasts music over their crops, convinced it helps them grow. The children are skeptical, but intrigued. (Honestly, I’m skeptical but intrigued.)

So far we’ve sprouted alfalfa, adzuki, mung, a “French Garden” mix (with clover, arugula, cress, radish, fenugreek and dill) and a bean mix (lentils, garbanzo, pea and other legumes). The adzuki weren’t to our taste, so we won’t be doing them again, but the others have been fantastic.

I’ve been impressed with how easy it is. To eat a jar a day, we start a jar a day. At night I put some seeds in the jar and fill it with water. While I sleep, they soak.  Come morning, I drain them. 3x per day we rinse and drain. By day 4 or 5 we eat them for lunch! We’ve been eating them as a stand-alone salad, with a bit of dressing. (Sometimes I’ll toss in some tomato or whatever else I have in the crisper.) It is really more convenient than ensuring I have fresh lettuce on hand all the time. (Although we enjoy spinach/romaine salads sometimes too.)

Even Ken has been eating them!  He suggested I try some grains.  He sampled sprouted barley at work and thinks it would make a good breakfast.  Since sprouted grains use the same procedure, sprouted grains  here we come!