A pricey foodie splurge for “living food” fans are gourmet sprouts, especially organic sprouts!
In California, Whole Foods offers a lot of tasty sprouts, including onion, broccoli, fenugreek, wheat, quinoa, radish, and daikon, to name a few.
A small 2-ounce carton costs $4 dollars!
I grow my favorite sprouts and save money!
The good news is that it’s surprisingly easy to sprout your own seeds for a fraction of the price you pay at the store!
Buy bulk seeds at the health food store or specially prepared seeds just for sprouting online.
It’s fun to watch the once dry, dormant seeds come to life by just adding water.
How to Sprout Mung Bean Seeds
One of my favorite foods to grow, or sprout, are mung beans because you have the choice of sprouting them a little or a lot!
Mung beans will sprout into delicious little plump beans with a nutty flavor in about 3 days; or longer, crunchy bean sprouts in 5 days.
Same bean.
Amazing!
Materials for Sprouting
- Mason jars with mesh lid for easy draining (I make my mesh lid with embroidery sheets from craft store).
- Dry mung beans
- Non-chlorinated water
Can you believe how few items are needed to grow your mung bean sprouts?
Prepare Mung Beans For Sprouting
1. Sanitize a quart sized Mason jar and cut out a mesh insert for the lid. Use the metal lid insert as a template.
2. Add 1/4 cup or up to 1/2 cup of mung beans to jar and thoroughly rinse with water and remove any floating debris.
3. Drain water from Mason jar and add fresh water to cover beans and let stand for 12 hours to soak up water and soften beans.
4. Set jar on kitchen sink, out of direct sunlight in a room that’s about 70 degrees.
Let the Sprouting Begin!
The sprouting process begins 12 hours after your initial bean soak.
Drain away the “soak water” completely from the Mason jar.
Do the following steps twice a day for three days (every 12 hours) to grow crunchy, plump sprouts:
1. Add fresh water to Mason jar and swivel well so that all the beans come in contact with the water.
2. Drain all the water from the Mason jar and place your jar upside down to make sure no residual water pools around your beans.
3. Set on counter for 12 hours and then repeat the steps.
After about 3 days of moistening beans, your bean sprouts will grow a small root-like stem and are ready to harvest and eat!
Thoroughly rinse your sprouted beans for a last time and drain.
Once the sprouts are dry to touch, put them in a plastic bag with a paper towel to wick up any water and store in refrigerator.
The sprouts will taste best when eaten within five days.
Grow Longer Bean Spouts
If your goal is to grow those yummy bean sprouts used in Chinese recipes, keep sprouting a couple more days.
Follow the rinsing instruction above for a total of 5 days to give more time for your mung beans to grow longer.
There’s a limit to how long your bean sprouts will grow.
Don’t expect them to become as long and straight as the bean sprouts you buy at the supermarket.
Commercially grown bean sprouts are plumped and lengthened by special gasses.
Your home-grown sprouts will be medium size, fresh and delicious!
Your savings will be yummy too!
Check out the information I shared on the Home & Family Show recently about sprouting seeds and growing wheatgrass.
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Have you grown your own sprouts?
Have any tips to share with other Foodie Gardeners?
