Sprouting: Day 5

My sprout jar has been growing like crazy but I thought there was just the little bit of room for more so I decided to do one more rinse this morning and then harvest them later today.

You can also leave it by the window sill on a sunny day if you wanted to develop chlorophyll. Today was pretty cloudy so no chlorophyll for me; perhaps the next time I do this.

Later on today, I did one last rinse in the jar. I then took out my sprouts and placed them in a deep bowl. Pulling out the sprouts delicately may be tricky especially if your hand does not fit the opening of the jar. In that case, you can probably use chopsticks to aid in pulling them out gently. I had no problem as my hand did fit in the opening and also my sprouts came out in one big lump.

Add cool water after extracting it into the bowl. Use your fingers to gently pull the sprouts apart if they are lumped up like mine were. The hulls will float up while some of the unsprouted seeds will sink. Push the hulls to one side if you can. It's a bit tricky it you have a lot of them floating around in the bowl.

Pull the hulls to one side, grab the sprouts and placed them on a colander or on a clean towel. I opted using a strainer so I won't loose any sprouts if I used the colander. Make sure they are completely dry before storing them in a container or ziplock lined with a paper towel.

Sprouting: Day 4

I was so happy to see these sprouts growing especially since this is my first time. Everything was going so well and then BAM! I took a closer look at my sprouts today and to my horror, some were fuzzy. Great, just when it was going so well too. I was tempted to throw them into the compost since they were now molded. Boo.

Deep down inside, I refused to give up. Maybe I can pick the bad ones out? Maybe I can rinse it all away? Maybe I should throw them and start a new batch asap? Or maybe ... what I do best ... Google! And Google I did and I'm so glad I did because I found out it wasn't mold at all but that the radish sprouts have fuzzy sprout tails!!! Oh the joy! So they were still good and I can continue to rinse and drain for the next while. I'm a happy camper.

Sprouting: Day 3

Again, it's all about maintenance and TLC - rinse and drain! By the looks of my sprouts, they seem pretty happy.

Sprouting: Day 2

Remember to rinse and drain twice a day (or more for warmer environments). I've only done my first rinse today. I didn't expect to see anything different in the last 24 hours until I really looked at the seeds. I was surprised to see them starting to sprout already! I love this part - when you get to see the growth and progress.

Sprouting: Day 1

So what's sprouting got to do with gardening? Well, I think it's still gardening but the indoor kind. And it also about growing food that you can harvest and enjoy. I was introduced to it by who else, my wonderful friend Jenn again (thanks Jenn!). She's been a great inspiration and you will probably hear me drop her name often on my blog.

Sprouts are considered a living food and carry high nutritional value and the food enzymes help greatly with digestion. To get the most of it's nutritional value, it's best to eat these guys raw. You can use them for salads and sandwiches, add them to your stir fries, blend them into your smoothies or use them for garnish. There are different ways to sprout seeds - in a glass jar, in a sprouting bag, or in a tray. I was debating between the first 2 and did a bit of research. The glass jar is the most reliable while I've read that the seeds or the sprouts may mold using the hemp sprouting bag. In the end, I opted for using a glass jar to sprout as it's also more economical - I had all the things I need with the exception of the actual seeds to sprout. So I went to the Earth's General Store and bought a salad mix in bulk (small quantity to start off with) that consisted of a mix of alfalfa, canola, radish and broccoli seeds. I also found a great article by Honestfare website on how to sprout (there's some great photos as well) along with using the Sprouting Book and Going Raw books as my other references.

Some things to remember when sprouting:

• Each seed sprout at different times so if you want to mix them, make sure that the seeds grow around the same time frame
• It's important to keep the seeds moist but not wet
• Drainage and air circulation helps to prevent molding
• Direct sunlight can cook the seeds/sprouts esp. during summer when it's hot and humid, so place them in indirect sunlight if possible during those times

Here's what you need to get started:

• A glass jar preferably with a wide opening to fit your hand in
• Your seeds to sprout -  2 Tbsp per quart 
• A piece of cheesecloth that is wide enough to cover the jar opening
• A rubber band

So first things first, you have to check for bad seeds and remove them (cracked or broken seeds). They help minimize the risk of the sprouts being spoiled and contaminating the other healthy seeds. The seeds I had were pretty small and tricky to filter out. What I ended up doing was placing them in a wide glass container/plate and pushing all the seeds to one side. I brought sections of it down a bit at a time so I can see the seeds better. Once they were good, I pushed them over to the opposite side of the original pile.

After filtering through the seeds, rinse them with cool water ensuring that you remove any insects as well. Soak the seeds by filling the jar 2/3 with water for about 8 hours. The bigger the seeds, the longer you will need to soak. Alfalfa and clover takes only 3-8 hours but because I have a mix; I'm taking the maximum route of 8 hours.

Once 8 hours have passed, I drained the water (you can use them for watering plants too) and flipped it upside down on a 45 degree angle on a dish rack to ensure that most of the water is out. Make sure that the seeds are spread out in the jar for air circulation; you can give it a bit of a shake and roll.

Note that for the next few days, it's all rinsing and draining (twice a day or more when you live in a warmer environment).