Sprout growing guide in 10 steps
Everyone knows garden cress with a piece of fish and mashed potatoes, or your bean sprouts (soy sprouts) in your ready-made stir-fry meal. But sprouts are so much more than that. Sprouts contain all the basic nutrients of the plant and give your body strength. If you want to add essential vitamins and enzymes to your body this coming fall and winter, you should definitely try growing sprouts. Every day on your sandwich or in your salad, and you'll probably live to be 100. Some of the benefits:
- It's quick and easy, requires minimal materials, and kids love it. Not only the sprouts, but also the principle of sowing and reaping is invaluable.
- There are many pure flavors to discover, sprouts can usually be eaten raw (garden cress and basil), but some can also be steamed or stewed (such as pea or bean sprouts, better known as soy sprouts).
- Commercial sprouts are treated to survive transport and handling. They are also not made from organic seeds . Growing where you eat also saves on transport; you protect nature.
- You need very little space and even if you don't have a garden, you can still grow delicious vegetables indoors.
- It's very inexpensive; with a bag of sprouts, you can get a lot of food on the table. Sprouts weigh 15 times the weight of seeds.
Growing these vitamin bombs involves creating the ideal conditions for seeds to germinate into young plants that you then eat.
Sprouts in a few steps
- You can grow sprouts all year round. Note that the same rules apply to sprouts as to outdoor vegetables. You must observe the germination temperatures. On our website, you'll find the germination temperatures for each crop on the crop pages. It's best to avoid very hot or cold periods. Temperatures between 20 and 28 degrees Celsius work best. Room temperature, therefore...
- First, wash your seeds in a jar, removing anything that isn't a seed. It's also best to remove any small floating seeds. Exception: onion seeds can often float.
- Next, soak your seeds for the correct amount of time. Soaking too short and your seeds won't germinate, and soaking too long will kill them. The table below shows how long you should soak your seeds.
- Spread your seeds thinly across the grid of your Sprout Bowl or Harry Herbs. Seeds need water, light, and air to germinate well. Don't place them too thickly. If one seed covers another, you won't get good results. Then, fill your Sprout Bowl with water to within 1 cm of the rim.
- Rinse your water every day. Set the grid aside, fill your Bowl with fresh water, and your sprouts will be happy again. Rinsing removes the seed husks and provides fresh water, and therefore oxygen. On very hot days, it's best to put your Bowl in the refrigerator. If you don't rinse every day, your seeds will dry out and die. If your seeds are still too dry, give them a quick mist with a plant sprayer .
- Only start sprouts if you can give them your full attention for the next 3 to 5 days.
- If you want to grow green leafy sprouts like basil or cress, daylight is important. Avoid direct sunlight. A kitchen windowsill is ideal. You'll have access to running water for rinsing, and a window usually provides sufficient light. Bean sprouts and Alfa Alfa are best grown in the dark, so they stay a beautiful white.
- When the sprouts are ready, cut them off just above the rack and store them in the refrigerator. Rinse your sprouts thoroughly in a colander to remove any unsprouted seeds . Don't store them in a plastic bag, but in a jar where they can still get plenty of air. If you spit them regularly, you can keep the sprouts for up to a week. That is, if you can leave them alone.
- If you notice mold during soaking or storage, remove the affected seeds or sprouts.
- You can mix sprouts, but then look in the table below for vegetables with the same soaking, germination and growth time
