For the past few months or so I’ve begun experimenting with sprouts.
It all started with a bored Mikayla perusing Instagram, when @jujimufu made a post about his sprouting experience. In his post, he mentioned a book he recommended to anyone with additional questions, The Sprout Book by Doug Evans. Obviously, I spent the money on the book and read. I was impressed by some of the information provided around the nutrient benefits of sprouts versus their fully grown counterparts, but the potential cost savings on vegetables at the market is what really dragged me in. I’ve always been a frugal person so money savings is what initially brought me to try them.
I shopped around picked out a mason jar set. I personally chose one with a stand and drainage area. I then went to TrueLeaf market and selected four different sprouts to try. I went with broccoli, mung, alfalfa, and adzuki. Broccoli as that was one of the ones primarily covered in Evan’s book, the others were mostly chosen around what benefits they might yield. I only picked out organic seeds from their shop.
I started with broccoli and mung. I went into this process completely intimidated. I had never had much luck with plants in the past. The soaking process was the easiest. The bags from TrueLeaf came with instructions for soaking time and so did Evan’s book. I chose to have them soak overnight to make my life easier. From there, all I had to do was wash them every 8 or so hours. I set a timer; in some cases I adjusted the times and re-watered before the timer went off if I was going to bed or knew I’d be out of the house.
Curiously enough, the one that was raved about in the book (broccoli)… was my least favorite. Not being a normal sprout eater and definitely a ‘standard’ American with eating habits… it was bitter and not for me. The mung sprouts were another story. It took a bit for me to adjust to the flavor and consistency, but overall I was even able to eat the mung sprouts as a snack. It was a sandwich week for lunches, so Cody and I would throw a handful into the sandwiches and just eat.
