Sprouting for Beginners

This time of year, so many of us are looking for ways to get healthier. One easy way to freshen up your diet is to add sprouts to the mix.

Why Sprout?
The main benefit of sprouting is that it takes a seed or nut in a dormant state and brings it to life. During the sprouting process new and higher quality proteins and other nutrients are produced. Tests have shown that the nutrients in seeds and nuts are anywhere from 50% to 400% greater after sprouting or soaking.

In addition to the higher nutritional value, sprouts are highly digestible. Because sprouts are living, growing food sources, they have a rich supply of enzymes. This quality makes sprouts easily assimilated and metabolized by the body. Sprouts are packed full of nutrition in a form that your body can easily utilize.

Sprouts continue to grow slowly even after refrigeration and their vitamin content will actually increase. Compare this with store-bought vegetables and fruits, which start losing their vitamin content as soon as they’re picked and often have to be shipped a thousand miles or more in the winter.

Sprouting is so easy and fun…don’t let it intimidate you. The rewards are well worth the effort.

How to sprout

You'll need a couple of things:
A wide mouthed jar, (e.g. a mason jar used for canning), some cheesecloth and a rubber band. Oh, and some sprouting seeds, of course. Find some popular sprouting seeds here.

Instructions:

1. Measure an appropriate amount of seed, visually inspect and remove foreign matter and broken seeds.
2. Place seeds in jar
3. Add water to jar for soaking
4. Cover mouth of jar with cheesecloth
5. Soak for recommended time (see below)
6. Turn jar upside down drain at a 45 degree angle
7. Let the seeds sprout for appropriate time (see below)
8. Rinse seeds in jar as needed (2-4 times/day), returning jar to its upside down 45 degree angle position
   
9. When sprouts are ready, rinse and store in refrigerator, in jar or in another suitable container, until ready to use. If not used within 12 hours, seeds should be rinsed every 24 hours in refrigerator.

Sprouting times:

• Radish: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1.0+ days.
• Sunflower: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 18 hours.
• Barley: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1.25-1.5 days. Use only unhulled barley; "whole" hulled barley and pearled barley won't sprout.
• Quinoa: Soak 2-4 hours, sprout 12 hours. Very fast sprouter. Rinse seeds multiple times to get off soapy tasting saponin in seed coat.
• Wheat, including Kamut and Spelt: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1-1.5 days. Hard Winter wheat is better than soft Spring wheat.
• Alfalfa, Clover: For greens: soak 4-6 hours, sprout 6-8 days.
• Garbanzo: Soak 12-18 hours, sprout 1.5+ days.
• Lentils, brown/green and red: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1.0 day.
• Mung beans: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 18 hrs - 1 day.
• Adzuki beans: Soak 8-14 hours, sprout 1.0 day.

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New Year's Evolutions

I decided this year, I wasn't going to make any New Year's resolutions. Instead, I'm working on New Year's evolutions. They differ from resolutions in several ways, the most basic being that it's not about abruptly stopping or starting a behavior. My New Year's evolutions are about expanding or contracting things in my life. The reason for this is simple. Like most other human beings, I am not good at sustaining large changes in my life. I've learned that we are all much better at making small changes.

The example I point to is weight loss. Many people make a New Year's resolution to lose 10, 20, 50, 100 pounds. That lasts about a week, until the kids are cranky, the job is stressful, the finances are tight...you name it, there's always something that comes up to break our resolve.

In fact, studies show that people who are most successful at losing weight and keeping it off make a series of small changes. They reduce their caloric intake by 100 calories per day or they start walking for 30 minutes three times a week consistently. It's that simple. After 6 months, those habits are in-grained and they no longer seem like something you have to 'do'.

The same is true for just about anything else you want to change in your life. So, this year, my evolutions are these:
- Be a bit kinder
- Be a bit tidier
- Take time to have a bit more fun

Now, if you look at this list, you can see that it wouldn't stand up to the scrutiny of a business project plan - it doesn't have measurable outcomes - and that's the appeal. Evolutionary change is gradual, kinder, gentler change. As an added benefit, it's easier to be successful with New Year's evolutions. So, at the end of 2009, I'll look back over the year and ask "Was I a bit kinder this year? Was I just a bit tidier this year? Did I have a bit more fun during 2009?

I suspect my answer will be "Yes, but let's keep working on it."
Best wishes for wonderful, evolutionary change in your life in 2009. Read more!