Sooooo I totally agree, alfalfa sprouts have nothing to do with dahlias! But given that we all have other interests, I thought I’d share one of mine 🙂 … growing our own delicious sprouts for salads and sandwiches! Sprouts are dead easy to grow and and a really affordable way to put healthy food on the table ALL YEAR long!
How long does it take? About 6 days. How much does it cost? Pennies! Can the kids grow them? Yes! Why have you never tried it? I don’t know!
What do you need? While there are probably lots of “sprouting” tools you can spend a ton of money on, you might have everything you need already, and if not, I’ll tell you where I found some of the essentials for a good price (check out Mumms https://sprouting.com/ … currently offering free shipping on orders of $40 CAD or more, by far THE BEST prices for sprouting seeds and sprouting lids that I’ve found).
- 1 L wide mouth mason jar (I like to have 3 on the go for a constant supply of fresh sprouts)
- Sprouting screen/lid
- measuring spoons (tablespoon)
- small mixing bowl (use as a stand to drain your jar upside down)
- fresh cool water
- sprouting seeds (alfalfa is a great one to start with for a mild well-loved flavour. I also really like sprouting mustard seeds to add a kick of heat and subtle mustard flavour to sandwhiches… a blend of both is excellent too)
How do I grow sprouts?
Day 1
- Add 2 Tablespoons of alfalfa sprouting seeds to a 1L mason jar
- Add cool water (about 1 cup – enough to cover the seeds liberally) to the jar
- Let the seeds soak for about 6-8 hours or overnight
Day 2
- Drain the water from the jar thru the screen and turn jar upside down so that all the residual water drains out (I place the jar upside down on an angle in a mixing bowl)… leave on your counter for the sprouts to germinate at room temperature. Avoid placing them in front of a hot window (North facing window is perfect).
Day 3-6
- Morning and/or night fill the jar with water and rinse (twice a day is best (once per day is ok)
- (I’ll start another jar of sprouts on day 3 so that we have a continuous supply – but you might like to have more going if you have a big family or less if they are just for yourself… there’s just two of us, so adjust for your own needs)
Day 6. + or –
- Rinse and drain the sprouts one last time and eat fresh or refrigerate (drier sprouts store better, so be sure to drain them well).
- Favourite way to eat them is with hummus on sourdough with fresh slices of cucumber and tomato… YUM!
3 Jars on the go! The first jar on the far left is on day 3 (I just have it set upside down in a small mixing bowl so that all residual water from daily rinsing drains out). The middle jar has just been started – soaking the sprouting seeds for about 6 hours or so. The third jar on the far right just has 2 tablespoons of seeds added – just ready for adding water to start the germination in about 3 days to keep the sprout train rolling…