Growing your own sprouts is super easy – you get nutrient packed sprouts ready to eat in as little as a week. I ‘planted’ mine last Tuesday and one week later, I had my first sprout containing meal – a salad topped with spicy radish sprouts.
Sprouts contain a range of vitamins and minerals, and are a tasty addition to salads and sandwiches. The good news is you can grow them in any season and you don’t need a lot of room. All you need is a clean jar, a piece of cloth, a rubber band, a bowl and some seeds for sprouting.
Here’s how:
1.To get started, soak about a tablespoon of seeds in water overnight. This will help kick start the germination process.
2.Rinse the seeds in fresh water in the morning, and drain. Place the seeds in a jar, put the cloth over the top of the lid and wrap around the rubber band to enclose. Turn the jar upside down and leave to rest in a bowl on an angle so any extra water can drain out.
3. Repeat step 2 each morning and evening and you’ll start to see small sprouts come from the seeds within a few days. Continue for a few days and you’ll start to see the shoots coming through. They’ll be ready to eat within 7 days – store in the refrigerator after this time period and eat within a day or two.
You can also grow in containers, but the jar method is the most popular.
Check out Kings Seeds for a large sprouting seeds. I chose radish sprouts which are nice and peppery just like radishes. Kings Seeds also sell a Sprouting Starter kit which contains mesh lids for jars and a selection of seeds – these make good Christmas presents for green fingered friends and family.
So getting my friend one of those sprout packs for christmas! Thanks for the idea. She loves that sort of thing.