All About Sprouting

The sprouting process first starts with soaking seeds, beans, nuts and grains in clean water for approximately 8 to 12 hours. To help you determine the amount of sprouts you need, keep in mind the seeds swell to several times their size.

It is the presence of water that activates the enzymatic process by removing the enzymes' inhibitors, thus exploding the nutrients' content of the seed. Read on to find out more about the nutrients in sprouts.

During the Soaking and Sprouting Process:

• The starch in grains and legumes (lentils, chick peas) is transformed in simple sugars, which feed the sap of the germ. Not everybody can easily digest starches. But digestive problems disappear once the starch becomes a simple sugar liberated by the germinating process.
• Proteins contained in the seeds, grains or legumes are transformed in free amino acids easily assimilated by the body.

Protein content:

• Fats in nuts also benefit from soaking and sprouting. Their fats are transformed into fatty acids easily assimilated by the intestines with no extra help from the pancreas (it can rest!).
• The mineral content of sprouts is absolutely extraordinary. The minerals can go up to +50 to +400% during the sprouting process!!!! Yes, you read right.

• Trace elements increase by 10 times that of the original seed (or grain). 

- Iron content of 100 g watercress = 2,5 mg

- Iron content of 10 g watercress sprouts = 2,5 mg

• See for yourself the vitamins' content of sprouts!

Vitamins' increase in sprouted wheat (5 days sprouting):

B1 +20%

B2 +300%

B3 +10 to 25%

B5 +40 to 50%

B6 +200%

C +500%

A +225%

Vitamins increase in sprouted oats (5 days):

B5 +200%

B6 +500%

B9 +600%

Vitamin C content:

After sprouting for 24h: 7 to 8 mg/100g

After 48h: 10 to 12 mg/100g

After 72h: 12 to 14 mg/100g

After 4 days of sprouting, vitamin B12 content in lentils increase to +550%

Source: "Vitalite et Graines Germees", Ludmilla de Bardo, de Bardo Editions, September 2002.

I hope this convinces you enough to add sprouts to your diet!

How to Sprout

If you wonder how to sprout, it is very easy. I use the jar method and I will describe this one to you. There are of course fancier equipment out there that you can easily find on the web and in health food stores.

 You can use any kind of fine fabric on top of the jars that would work perfectly fine as well.

Pour 1 or 2 handfuls of the seed you chose to sprout in the jar. 

Pour clean water (avoid tap water) and cover the seeds by at least 3 cm so they have enough water to absorb and soak in. Cover the jar with the mesh or with the grid top and leave it alone for approximately 8 hours. Avoid direct sunlight. I chose to soak everything over night., I think it's easier. The next morning, drain the water (you can use it to water your plants) and rinse the grains several times until the water coming out is clear. Drain again very well and leave the jar upside down at an angle on the sprouting stand or on a rack of some sort so all the remaining water drains completely and air can circulate freely. Make sure that the seeds are all stuck on the walls of the jar and don't form a big lump on the bottom. Again, this allows air to better circulate and ease the sprouting process.

Rinse twice a day, once in the morning (first thing I do when I go to the kitchen) and once again at night (before I go to bed) and put the jar back on its stand upside down. When the sprouts are ready, repeat one last time the rinse and drain operation. Let it drain for several hours before storing the sprouts in a closed jar in the fridge. They will keep very well up to a week even a bit more (lentils keep well).

You will know when your sprouts are ready. In my experience, my own sprouts are smaller than the one I find at the store but they taste better. 

Alfalfa sprouts in 2 days, lentils 3 days, wheat 3 days, quinoa 1 day, sunflower seeds 2 days, sesame 1 to 2 days. And some take much longer but are a little bit more difficult to sprout. 

Tips:

• If you leave for a few days and your sprouts are not ready, rinse and drain them well before you leave. Let the jar vertically sit on the top shelf of the fridge. You can resume the sprouting process when you come back.
• If white fuzz appears during sprouting, rinse the sprouts very well. You can still eat them, they are good.
• Start with the easy sprouts, alfalfa, lentils, quinoa, buckwheat, wheat. You can later try the ones that take longer to sprout. They require being used to sprouting for a while as they are a little more time.
• Some seeds (basil, mustard, aragula, watercress) contain mucilage (a fiber) and cannot be sprouted in jars. You have to sprout them in soil.
• Make sure you thoroughly clean the sprouting jars each time of use.
• Sprouts are delicious in salads. Sprouted grains (buckwheat) can be used to make raw dough (raw pizza or pies).
• Make sure you always have sprouts ready to eat at all times. They are highly nutritious as you know by now AND the body totally and easily assimilates them.
• Be organized and plan your soaking in advance. One evening, you can soak almonds and dates to make a raw apple pie the next morning (to be eaten that same evening). If you are going on a hiking trip, soak your nuts and dried fruits in advance (allow time for the draining and drying operation as well). They are easier to digest when soaked.
• If you do not have the time to sprout your buckwheat for example or your sunflower seeds, make sure you soak them at least for a few hours. This will boost the enzymatic process and the nutrients' content will in any case be higher. Obviously not as much as after a few days of sprouting but it will still be better than nothing at all.