There is nothing like having some fresh food daily. Since sprouts and microgreens are so easy to grow and grow so quickly, you can pretty well guarantee that your family will have some fresh food to eat every day.
Fresh is best, so why not guarantee your family fresh food to eat in case of food shortages or other emergencies?
And they are fun to keep. My son, growing up, was in charge of the sprouts and taught him so much.
Sprouts
• Prepping / Storing of dried beans, seeds, nuts, grains. What to do with ’em?
After soaking a seed, grain, nut, or legume, a couple things can happen.
• It can be cooked immediately.
• Also dried and pounded into a flour or meal.
• To prevent from fully drying: add moisture, and allow to sprout, further fermented with the addition of ground herbs and spices.
• Soak the raw seed, grain, nut, or legume for around 12 -24 hours (depending on the variety, the time required changes).
• It must be raw, not roasted, or else the enzymes will be deactivated.
• The best way to soak beans (legumes) is 24 hours in warm water.
• Change once if desired.
• Soak for 24 hours, preferably in warm water for part of the time.
• After soaking, drain completely in a colander.
• Every eight hours, rinse with a clean source of water and allow to drain.
• Allow enough room and some air exposure.
• Keep the jar in a warm dark place, tipped upside down for drainage.
• After a couple of rinsing, they should begin to sprout.
• Rinse and drain sprouts twice a day until they are the desired length (around four days).
Spiced Sprouts
• 1 litre jar on top of the sprouted seeds / grain / bean add 1 teaspoon salt and water to the shoulder of the jar.
Add herbs + spices as desired:
1 teaspoon fresh chopped garlic
1 teaspoon Turmeric powder
1 teaspoon curry powder
½ teaspoon crushed black papaya seeds
Or other tasty combinations; Add approx. 3 teaspoons
Oregano, garlic, cumin and mustard seeds
Sumac, turmeric, and dash of native ground pepper
• Stir Well.
• Cover with muslin / unbleached coffee filter and string / rubber band… stir 3-5 times a day for 4-5 days. • Drain and refrigerate.
Sprouting helps deactivate enzyme inhibitors.
What does that mean? Making the sprouted seed, easier on the digestion, of course.
• Seeds possess complex mechanisms in order to remain viable over long periods of time, even under harsh weather conditions.
• Given the proper conditions, any viable seed will sprout, although you may find alfalfa seeds, lentils and mung beans to be the best starting point.
• If the seed is of a non- poisonous variety, the sprouts may be eaten. Broken or shrivelled seeds will not sprout, so sort them out first.
The ancient Chinese discovered sprouts for healing over 5,000 years ago.
• The Chinese carried mung beans on long ocean voyages and sprouted throughout their journey.
•They become anti-scorbutic fight against scurvy), making vitamin C more bio-available (more easily absorbed).
• In India, mung beans are often the first solid food given to infants because they are easily assimilated and offer a host of nutritional and systemic benefits.
Sprouting Mung Beans
• Place the rinsed beans in a jar and soak for 8 hours.
• Drain and put them back in the jar.
• Cover the mouth of the jar with a cloth, lie the jar on its side in a dark place.
• Every 8 – 12 hours, rinse the beans then return them.
• After a few days of sprouting, bring the jar out into the light and continue to sprout and rinse for a few days more until the roots have appeared, and are as long as the sprouts.
Mung bean bread
• It is cooked on a very low heat, preserving the water soluble vitamins as well as the fat soluble ones, and retaining the enzymes and other beneficial metabolites of the sprouting process.
• This bread is a good meeting point between traditional sourdough bread and sprouted Essene bread.
• Sprouted breads are often problematic – they can crumble, they can be a bit heavy and glugs, or they can be hard, heavy and/or tasteless.
• Not always of course – a good sprouted bread is delicious.
• Here we are using not the sprout of a grain as the primary ingredient, but the sprout of a bean.
350 g sprouted mung beans
2 cups of slow fermented sourdough starter
1 cup of flaked quinoa / amaranth / oats
1 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup of chick pea (garbanzo) flour
1 cup whole kamut/ einkorn/ spelt flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
• The mung beans need to be sprouted until the roots are as long as the sprouts.
• Place the rinsed sprouts in a food processor, food grinder or blender and process finely.
• Add olive oil, salt and flaked grain / oats, stir in, then leave to sit for 10 minutes so the oats become well hydrated.
• Add flours, mixing until just blended, then let the dough sit for 10 minutes again.
• Give the dough a quick and light air knead, just until it has warmed in your hands.
• Oil bread tin well with coconut oil and push the dough firmly but gently down.
• Let the loaf sit in a warm place for 3 hours or so.
• Don’t expect a huge rise, but there will be a small rising.
• Cook on as low a heat as you can.
• Either on top of a wood stove, or in a low temperature oven.
• Cook for a couple of hours (use your judgement here, it wants to be soft and elastic to the touch, but with a definite crust).
• Our loaf was cooked in a gas oven at 120° C for 2 hours.
• At this point, remove from the tin, and bake for a further half hour to harden the rest of the crust.
• It is important to let this bread cool down before slicing. The longer you leave it, the better it will hold.
• Slice when it is still just warm enough to slowly melt butter.
When growing your own sprouts, think of them like little pets:
• You do have to give daily attention to sprouts and microgreens to grow them successfully, but it’s not hard, and doesn’t take a lot of time.
• Always try to approach your sprouts with happiness.
• Talk to them, offer encouragement, as you pass by.
❤ & Bacteria,
Lynnie Stein • Gut Goddess
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