A-Z sprouting guide Articles

Growing sprouts is easy once you know how and get the hang of it. They're mostly grown from grains, seeds and legumes. However, not all grains, seeds and legumes can be sprouted.

This guide will walk you through the steps of growing sprouts, and it's a great way to include your family in a fun, healthy practice.

What Are Sprouts?

Sprouts are the colourful plant-like growth which forms when certain foods are soaked in a small amount of water. Soaking begins a natural process called germination. Nature uses seeds, grain, nuts, and legumes to grow new plants, and it all begins with a germination process.

When these foods become wet, it catalyses growth enzymes to begin a chemical process for the growth of a new plant. This is called a sprout, and sprouts are highly dense with enzymes, vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals.

In addition to being a living, enzyme–rich food, sprouts have many vitamins and minerals. By sprouting these foods, the vitamin and mineral content increases.

For instance, the vitamin A content in sprouts doubles, the B vitamins will increase 5 – 10 times, and vitamin C will also increase.

Once sprouted, the protein in grains, seeds, and legumes also become more digestible, and therefore more bio-available. This is especially important for those who are vegetarians.

What Can Be Sprouted?

• Beans and Legumes: lentils, peas, chick peas, mung beans, navy beans, pinto beans, black beans, lima beans, adzuki beans
• Seeds: alfalfa, clover, fenugreek
• Cereal Grains: oat, corn, rice, barley, wheat
• Pseudo Cereal Grains: quinoa, amaranth, buckwheat
• Oil Seeds: sesame, sunflower, flaxseed
• Nuts: almond, hazelnut
• Brassica Family Seeds: broccoli, cabbage, watercress, mustard, radish, daikon, arugula, mizuna, turnip, tatsoi

Certain grains and legumes can be poisonous, harmful or just plain unable to sprout and should be avoided: soy and kidney beans, white rice, oat grouts, tomato, potato, paprika, eggplant, and rhubarb.

Most sprouted beans and legumes have hemagglutinins, which inhibit the absorption of fats and proteins. Hemagglutinins, however, are destroyed by cooking, so these sprouts are best cooked in curries, soups, stir fries or made into a dip or pate.

Steps For Growing Sprouts

1. Rinse the seeds, nuts, legumes or grains. This removes any debris or mucilaginous material that may have grown if the food was in contact with any moisture.
2. To germinate, cover and soak seeds, nuts or grain in water for 20 min to 12 hours, depending on the size and density of the food. Once soaked for a sufficient time they are ready to sprout.
3. To sprout, rinse the germinated seeds, legumes and grain. Then add enough water that they are wet but not covered. You want some air contact at this point, but only enough water to prevent drying out. This combination of water and air will begin the sprouting phase, and you will begin to see bits of white and green begin to form. Some seeds can even sprout beautiful colours like pinks and purples. Be sure to continue to rinse the seeds, grain or legumes 2 to 4 times daily until you are happy with the amount of sprouting. Then move them into the fridge to slow the process down.

Soaking increases the water content in the seed, legume or grain bringing them out of their dormant state called quiescence.

It is important to drain, rinse and add fresh water two to four times daily to ensure negative bacterial growth will not occur.

Each seed, grain or legume has its own time it takes to sprout. This is variable depending on conditions such as air temperature, water temperature and size of the seed, grain or legume. Generally, the warmer the air temperature, the faster the spouts will germinate and grow. Refrigeration will slow and even halt the sprouting process.

The following is a reference guide for how long to soak legumes, seeds and grains for.

Nutritional Information

Using Sprouts

Sprouts are great on salads, on sandwiches, or blended in health shakes. There is just no wrong way of eating them.

One exception is that they are best eaten raw. Cooking them can neutralize their beneficial enzymes. The exception to this is the beans and legumes listed above. These are best eaten cooked.

Sprouting food is all the rage these days. It's fun to grow food right in your own home, and it’s great for kids to partake in the process. Sprouting also has great health benefits that have been known for centuries in different parts of the world, particularly Asia. It’s easy to do at home, and if you are on the run, sprouts are readily available in most grocery stores.

The practice of sprouting food all started when people began to recognize that certain grains and legumes gave them negative digestive symptoms like gas, bloating and indigestion. However, when these foods are soaked and sprouted, they are much easier to digest.

The reason grains and legumes produce gas and indigestion is that many people do not have the digestive enzymes needed to fully digest them. As a result, they ferment, cause negative digestive symptoms and can contribute to inflammation and allergies.

Before farming, humans were mostly hunter-gatherers, so if we came across a bit of naturally growing grain, it was few and far between. Also, these grains would have been soaked and mashed to eat. It’s theorized that because humans did not consume large quantities of grains, flour, and legumes prior to the advent of farming practices, we lack the necessary digestive enzymes to adequately digest quantities of grains and legumes. Sprouted grains and legumes are better suited to our digestive system because they include the enzymes needed to digest them.

What Are Sprouts & What Are They Used For?

Sprouts are the colourful plant-like growth which forms when certain foods are soaked in a small amount of water. Soaking begins a natural process called germination. Nature uses seeds, grain, nuts, and legumes to grow new plants, and it all begins with a germination process.

When these foods become wet, it catalyzes the growth enzymes to begin a chemical process for the growth of a new plant. This is called a sprout, and sprouts are highly dense with enzymes and nutrients. The benefits of eating sprouts are many. Much of the value has to do with the chemicals and nutrients in the sprout itself, which are not available until germination occurs.

This is because unsoaked grains, legumes, and seeds contain what are called enzyme inhibitors, which prevent them from germinating and sprouting. It is only when they become wet that these growth enzymes are triggered, and plant growth begins to happen.

Grains, legumes, and seeds also contain phytic acid and certain toxins to keep them from being eaten by animals and humans. Enzyme inhibitors, phytic acids, and toxins all contribute to grains, legumes and seeds being difficult to digest. Phytic acid also interacts with essential minerals like Calcium making them unavailable for your body to use. Once soaked, naturally occurring healthy Lactobacilli bacteria begin to grow and neutralize phytic acid and toxins, halting their negative effects.

Soaking, fermenting and sprouting also break down difficult to digest proteins like gluten found in most grains, except rice, quinoa, buckwheat, and millet.

What Are They Used For?

Sprouts are mainly used for their nutritional value.

In addition to being a living, enzyme-rich food, Sprouts have many vitamins and minerals. Just by sprouting these foods, their vitamins and minerals increase.

For instance, the vitamin A content in sprouts doubles, the B vitamins will increase 5 – 10 times, and vitamin C will also increase.

Once sprouted, proteins in grains, seeds, and legumes also become more digestible and therefore bioavailable. This is especially important for those who are vegetarians.

They are also rich in the minerals calcium, iron and zinc.

Why do Sprouts Work?

It’s commonly known that the new buds and growth of plants and herbs are highly nutrient-dense and even medicinal. This is Mother Nature’s way of giving new and old plants the extra nutrients and energy they need to grow and produce a full-sized plant.

By eating sprouts, we can benefit from this natural process by giving our body nutrient-dense vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals and enzymes that we need to maintain health.

How Can I Use Sprouts?

Sprouts are great on salads, on sandwiches, or blended in health shakes. There is just no wrong way of eating them. One exception is that they are best eaten raw. Cooking them can neutralize their beneficial enzymes.