Adventures In Sprouting, Part Two

Four Day Old Sprouts

After many rinses, much peeking and a dark corner, I've learned a few things more about sprouting. The picture is four day old mung bean sprouts. They have no smell, and they've been rinsed many, many times. All the literature and tips say every 8-10 hours, but there have been times I've rinsed before 8 hours. This won't hurt them, I suppose I just don't want any chance of them moulding. The process is much simpler than I expected. Soak, rinse well until water is clear, drain well.  Put a piece of cheesecloth over the jar mouth, screw  ring on snugly. Find a dark corner. No, a cupboard won't do. I found this out after mine sat up in a very dark cupboard for a few hours. The reason they can't sit in a cupboard? No air flow. This is important if you don't want to catch something, like E. coli. So after reading a tip that suggested a dark corner of the kitchen, where they would be in a darkened area but not out of sight, that's where I put mine. As I've said before, there is no smell. They are just over an inch long I suppose, and today is the day that I need to decide exactly how we're going to eat them. I think we'll go with a salad. This will provide us, those that will eat the salad anyway, with some powerful vitamins and minerals that the salad would not otherwise have. Since we're all so spotty with remembering our multi-vitamins, this should give our bodies a powerful shot of healthy stuff just when we need it to ward off winter illnesses.

Yesterday, we went back to our favorite organic/health food store to get alfalfa seeds and clover seeds, both for sprouting. Those are more suited to sandwiches, which we eat tons of, as well as salads. So one of those will be my next sprouting adventures.

Hmm, we're having roast tonight, I wonder if I can chop those bean sprouts up finely enough to slip into the roast's juices, and maybe slip that nutrition past the boys without them noticing?