A GUIDE TO


The Sprouter & Its PartsGetting Started- Seed Chart Seed & Sprout TipsSuggestions: 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.




STORAGE TIPS



No Rinse sprouts store better/longer than rinsed sprouts. (Wetness blocks oxygen.) Best storage is in the sprouter. Leave in sprouting mode til cool.

If stored sprouts ferment (lack of oxygen) put back in sprouting mode, with dome.

Freezing (No Rinse sprouts) puts sprouts on hold at peak vitality & facilitates grinding (without liquid) for convenient uses & better assimilation.


In his book ENZYME NUTRITION, Dr. Edward Howell presents compelling evidence of the importance of food enzymes to health, vitality and longevity. He calls cooking "The Fatal Process" because it depletes our limited enzyme capacity. To compensate for this loss, he recommends adding germinated, inhibitor-free, raw seeds, grains and nuts to our diet.

Over 50 years ago Dr. Robert E. McCarrison fed rats a heavilly cooked/processed diet. It resulted in all the diseases & miseries of civilized society -and it turned the rats into unhappy nervous wrecks that bit attendants and preyed upon the weaker ones amongst them.
(Sound familiar?) Sick rats put on a high-vitality diet (including sprouts!) were restored to health and happiness.

That's a very good reason to have wholesome, high-vitality meals & snacks, with sprouts, daily.