A
GUIDE TO
The
Sprouter & Its Parts
• Getting Started- Seed Chart •
Seed & Sprout Tips • Suggestions:
Alfalfa, Etc. • Recipes
SPROUTING
NOTES & SUGGESTIONS
"To
live effectively is to live with adequate information."- Norbert
Weiner
Most seed types require little more than 1-12 hours of soaking
followed by varying periods of unattended sprouting time (and
no rinsing.) Some seeds have special handling needs.
For example:
ALFALFA & SALAD SPROUTS
Salad-type
sprouts such as alfalfa, broccoli, clover, radish, etc. are
usually grown to a more mature leaf stage. Water is useful
for more than just growth - it's a way to keep sprouts from
growing into a tight compacted mass, while simplifying dehulling
and rearrangement of sprouts for uniform greening. (At each
rinse, fill sprouter with lukewarm water, loosen sprout mass
with a fork, stir, skim hulls & drain.)
Due to water's "surface tension" a critical time for all tiny
seeds is after soaking. The seed mass should always be thoroughly
drained, then loosened. This will provide the proper growing
room and air flow.
• Quick & Easy One-Rinse
Baby Alfalfa
OMIT Alfalfa Insert. Put 3 c. warm water in Sprouter, THEN
add 1/2 c. seeds. Soak 8 hours, drain & rinse with fresh warm
water. Thoroughly drain & loosen seeds. Sprout until 1/2"
(about 24 hrs). Fill sprouter with lukewarm water and gently
loosen sprout mass with a fork. (Skim any loose hulls from
top.) Drain well. Start using. Alfalfa grown by this method
will be sweeter and have a much longer refrigerated shelf
life than that sprouted to a longer stage with multiple rinses.
• Growing Long Alfalfa
& Salad Types
Use the above method, then remove half the sprouts & rinse
at least once per day. Alternatively, use the alfalfa insert
and 2-6 T. seed. After 8 hour soak, drain well and rinse at
12 hour intervals, to desired stage. If desired, at the final
rinse, the sprouts can be put in a large pan of cool water
to wash remaining hulls & unsprouted seeds from the sprout
mass. Remove alfalfa insert, if used, and return sprouts to
sprouter for further growth, greening or refrigerated storage.
BEANS, ETC.
Sprouted beans taste better, cook faster, are less gas forming,
more nutritious & versatile than unsprouted beans. Most will
find only garbanzo, lentil, mung & pea sprouts palatable fresh.
(A few lentils & mung may remain hard - be aware.)
• Garbanzos love cool (50-60
F.) temp., no rinsing & even sprout in the refrigerator in
7-10 days.
• Mung beans like warmth.
(8 oz. soaked 8 hrs. grew pound of sweet 1/2" sprouts in 8
hrs. at 107°F.) For long fat mung use 3/4 cup beans. After
soaking, invert Dome & put in 8 oz. weight. (Don't block vents.)
Rinse 2+ times/day. Grow in dark until full. (If desired use
the above pan method for dehulling.)
Without raw foods,
we fall into a kind of twilight zone of ill health. You don't
feel sick, but neither do you feel well." (Henning Karstrom,
Swedish Medical Researcher)
BUCKWHEAT
& SUNFLOWER
The quickest & easiest way to use these two delicious varieties
is in the hulled form. Buckwheat is the most reliable, quality-wise.
• Buckwheat makes thick
soak water. If the seeds are "dusty" from hulling, get rid
of the dust by swirling the seeds in the sprouter before adding
soak water. Some extra seed washing before and after soaking
helps. And thorough drainage & loosening is a must. Ready
to use in 24 hours.
• Sunflower's biggest concern
is freshness, and rancid seeds are often found in the marketplace.
Look for light grey seeds. Use within 48 hours of soaking.
(Unhulled sunflower is used for growing greens, as is unhulled
buckwheat.)
SESAME
• Sesame acquires a bitter
taste if overgrown. It's most palatable with no root showing
to just budded out. As with all tiny seeds, drain thoroughly
and loosen. Sprout 12 hrs., cool & freeze in plastic bag.
