Saturday, February 13, 2010

Home Grown Bean Sprouts

Homemade Bean Sprouter
Following Thomas's tutorial I started sprouting mung beans last week. I will do a quick post about how I went about it, if you are looking for more detail please check out his tutorial. Above is the supplies I used which were all on hand and free. First I used a large margarine container with a perforated lid. I then used a perforated yogurt container for the sprouting vessel. Lastly I used a lid cut to the inside diameter of the sprouting vessel and a ramekin to weight the sprouts down so they grow larger.

On day one I soak the mung bean seeds for 24hrs and then
placed them in the sprouting vessel.

With the soaked beans in place I then placed the disk and weight
on top of the seeds. The added weight causes the sprouts to grow
thicker by adding resistance. The lid then went on and I placed
the sprouter in a warm dark place. Well sprouting the sprouts
were rinsed twice a day.

Here they are on day 2, just starting to sprout.

On day three they had grown half way up the sprouting vessel.
At this point in place of the twice a day rinse I soaked them in
water for 15 minutes. This soaking adds bulk to the sprouts.

This was taken on day 6 which was the last day. The previous
day I took the weight off allowing them to fill the container.

With the sprouts done I placed them in a bowl of water. This was
done to separate out the green seed coats. Most fell to the bottom
and others I skimmed off the top.

With most of the skins gone they went in the sink to
remove the last of the seed coats and clean them.

With that done they were dried very well and placed in the fridge.

Sprouting turns out to be quite easy to do and fast as well. Within 6 days you can have enough sprouts for a couple meals. They also taste much better then sprouts from the store. At about the three day mark they taste just like sweet green beans, by the sixth day they take on a more starchy taste and the crunch is excellent. I see more sprouting in my future.

17 comments:

  1. Between yours and Thomas's tutorials - I think I have it! Now I just need to purchase some sprouting seeds and give it a try. Not sure when I will - as I am rather busy sprouting garden veggie seedlings at the moment, but I sure do want to give this a whirl.

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  2. Fantastic! So glad it's working out for you.

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  3. Great post! I'm going to have to give that a try one of these days.

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  4. Any recommendations for where to get sprout seeds at a good price?

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  5. KitsapFG - definitely worth the time to try it.

    Ribbit - They were so good :-)

    Michelle - You should try some, nice winter project.

    Sandy - My seed came from Pinetree, $1.95 for 4oz. Thomas recommend an Asian market were you can get them for $0.99 for 12oz but I don't have an Asian market close by. I sprouted a third of the package and ended up with 10oz of sprouts in the end.

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  6. thanks for this I've tried sprouting without much success in the past, so will give it another go!

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  7. Alfalfa is fantastic sprouted too. The little sprouts taste like fresh peas - fantastic on a sandwich in the winter.

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  8. A wonderful source of organic sprouting seeds and exhaustive growing information is Sproutpeople.com. You can also purchase seeds in bulk very inexpensively at your local co-op. I have been supplying a litle vegan deli with 4 pounds of sprout mix every week for the past year(not a get-rich venture, but nice extra income). The seeds I get from Sproutpeople have excellent germination and I love their Spicy Mix (with radish and fenugreek), Italian Blend (with garlic chives) and French Garden Mix(with arugula).

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  9. That's so easy to do! I used to love eating veggie sandwiches with alfalfa sprouts as a child. This post has inspired me. I LOVE your blog! Thank you!

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  10. They look great! It's been a while since I've sprouted beans, but I do recall that the moung beans made a wicked pancake! Maybe I'll give it a shot again soon!!!

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  11. Great sprouts! I tried them in my automatic sprouter and teh were smalla nd bitter. I'll try it your way and see if I have better results.

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  12. I love white wheat sprouts because they are a little sweet and a little nutty. Kind of like me.

    Here's my how-to:
    http://red-icculus.com/?p=37

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  13. My mom loves to sprout. I don't know if she has ever done bean sprouts though. Probably have, and my failing memory is .... well....failing!

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  14. Your mung bean sprouts look great Dan! Beautiful long and thick sprouts. I'm glad it worked out for you.

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  15. So thats where Sprout come from. Great info you have there...

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  16. That is really cool, I need to give this a try!

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  17. I have also tried growing my mung beans. I love eating them. Thanks for this article.

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