What veggies are always on your shopping list?

[ennui]

What happened to the chart I posted?

Anyway:

For Alfalfa & other tiny sprout seed:
2 T of seed per quart of capacity of your sprouter
It should yield 4 cups of sprouts

For Mung beans:
5 T of seed per quart of capacity of your sprouter
It should yield 1.5 cups of sprouts

For Radish seeds:
3.5 T of seed per quart of capacity of your sprouter
It should yield 3.5 cups of sprouts

 

[fords8]

EXCELLENT info, Ladies!!! Thank You Very Much!

I have plenty of dark kitchen counters :lol:

I've only bought sprouts in the produce section .... we all love the added crunch and healthiness of some sprouts added to salad or whatever :bliss:
DD will especially be all over this :bliss:

 

[fords8]

Ok splain how harvesting works. :dunce: Do you pull them, cut them? Then what? Wash them? How do you eat them? Salads and what else?

 

[ennui]

Don't put in the sprouter in direct sun, it dries out the sprouts & encourages mold. They really are grown in almost dark until you want to 'green' them up by putting them in daylight, not sun, for a few hours just before harvest.

Growing your own is easy, and they are so much fresher & cheaper than what you find in the store.

 

[eiramnoaj]

Ok splain how harvesting works. :dunce: Do you pull them, cut them? Then what? Wash them? How do you eat them? Salads and what else?

Thank you - I was starting to think I was the only one not eating sprouts. I've had them in salads a few times (when eating out) but that's about it.

 

[KG]

Ok splain how harvesting works. :dunce: Do you pull them, cut them? Then what? Wash them? How do you eat them? Salads and what else?

I just pull them out of my grower when I want to eat them. Rinse, blot on a paper towel, and put them on a sandwich or in a salad. Mung bean sprouts I think you need to cook just a little bit -- but I've never grown those so I'll let ennui the expert answer that one.

Hey ennui -- The Sprout House sells kale, flax and cabbage seeds for sprouting. I'm intrigued. Ever try any of those?

 

[ennui]

Ok splain how harvesting works. :dunce: Do you pull them, cut them? Then what? Wash them? How do you eat them? Salads and what else?

Ok, before 'harvesting', at around day 5 or so, later is easier than earlier, I like to float them in a deep bowl, or stockpot of cool water. This enables me to skim off the floating hulls that don't taste so great & aren't as attractive. I use a skimmer or spoon. Toss the hulls.

Then I use a fork, or my washed hands, to retrieve the sprouts which are floating suspended in the pot. They go back into the rinsed sprouting jar to finish growing, or to be drained before bagging & heading into the fridge. You can also try spinning them dry with a salad spinner before bagging.

The actual harvest is just removing them from the jar, usually they are so crowded I need to pull them out in clumps with a fork.

No cutting involved. nothing is dirty either.

Just wash the jars between starting new seeds. Helps to wash them before the jars dry, dried on sprouts can be a PITA to wash.


You may b able to find this cheaper nearby, but I got it through amazon. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002BMDE30 It helps to wash out those deep canning jars.

 

[ennui]

How do you eat them? Salads and what else?

They all can be eaten raw. Use them in salads, sandwiches, etc. Any place you might eat lettuce, you can eat sprouts.

The heartier sprouts, like mung, you can cook, stir fry, bake etc. I wouldn't try that with the more delicate sprouts like alfalfa or clover, they would just wilt.

Radish sprouts have a nice zing, like radishes. I prefer them over radishes in salads as they spread that zip more evenly.

Be aware that like onion seed for your garden, onion & dill sprouting seed will only last 1 year. Don't stock up on a pound of those or you'll probably end up throwing them away.

Also, never grow treated garden seed [like you can buy at Home Dept or Walgreens] for sprouts. Only use sprouting seed or if you are 100% convinced they are untreated garden seed.

Hey ennui -- The Sprout House sells kale, flax and cabbage seeds for sprouting. I'm intrigued. Ever try any of those?

I haven't tried kale or cabbage yet, but my guess is that they taste very much like broccoli, after all they are all cruciferous veggies.

Haven't tried flax yet either.

 

[KG]

holy crap. sproutpeople.org that ennui mentioned above has a ton of information on sprouting. I just spent nearly an hour there reading and reading... I never realized that Johns Hopkins U tried to patent sprouting the broccoli plant :dunce: nice try, people :lol: