Sprouting Nuts & Seeds

Sprouts are the beginning life of a plant; these baby plants are loaded with nutrients, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, proteins, fats, phytochemicals, enzymes, water and chlorophyll. Sprouts have the highest concentration of these nutrients, vitamins, etc. than any other stage of a plants life. Sprouts are ALIVE and continue to grow for some time after they pulled. This period of growing continues to add more nutrients. Not only do we sprout nuts and seeds to release their maximum amounts of nutrients but many people find they cannot tolerate grains, seeds, nuts and legumes, or products such as breads, cakes or bean dishes made from them. Do you suffer from indigestion, flatulence, or bloating after eating them? Seeds and nuts contain not only enzyme inhibitors but also phytic acid  which is found in the outer layer. Both of these make dry grains, seeds and legumes virtually indigestible. Phytic acid also reacts with many essential minerals, such as calcium, magnesium, copper, iron and especially zinc, and stops their absorption in your intestines.

As they soak, the enzymes, lactobacilli and other helpful organisms break down and neutralise the phytic acid. As little as seven hours soaking in water removes most of the phytic acid. Soaking, fermenting and sprouting also breaks down gluten and other difficult-to-digest proteins into simpler components that are more easily absorbed.

Sprouts are a living food, natural and low in calories. Their vitamin A content will usually double, various B group vitamins will be 5 – 10 times higher, and vitamin C will increase by a similar order. Their protein content becomes easily digestible, and rich new nutrients such as enzymes and phytochemicals are created. They contain significant amounts of bio-available calcium, iron and zinc.

One of the easiest and lest expensive routes in sprouting is the jar method. When using jars use wide-mouth, glass canning jars, which are available at many hardware or grocery stores.   You will need screen lids – cut pieces of different (plastic) mesh screens, or buy some of the special plastic screen lids designed for sprouting. Sprouting in jars is quite easy: simply put seed in jar, add soak water, put lid on. When soak is over, invert jar and drain water, then rinse again. Then prop jar up at 45 degree angle for water to drain. Keep out of direct sunlight. Rinse seed in jar 2-3 times per day until ready, always keeping it angled for drainage.

You can use your sprouted seeds at various growth periods.  Often times I will sprout the seed or grain only long enough to create a small tale, using them in cookie or bread recipes. Here is an example.

1. Select the type of seed or bean from the chart below.
2. Place the suggested amount of seeds or beans in the sprouting jar and cover with purified water.  Usually a 1:2 ratio.  One part seed, 2 part water.
3. Soak the seeds or beans for the suggested amount of time.
4. Drain the water from the jar after the suggested amount of soaking time.
5. Put the jar in a dark place such as a kitchen cupboard.
6. Rinse the seeds or beans every 4-8 hours.
7. After rinsing, replace the jar back to the dark cupboard.
8. Once sprouting begins, that you see the shoots, put the jar into sunlight. This allows the sprouts to develop chlorophyll.
9. Let the sprouts grow for the suggested number of days.
10. You can adjust the growing time based on whether you are planning on eating the sprouts or juicing the sprouts. If you want to eat the sprouts, then you can eat them when they are a little smaller. If you want to juice the sprouts, then they will need to be a little bigger.
11. What are you waiting for?  Sprout Living!!

	Soaking Time	Sprouting Time
All Beans	9 – 12 hours	2 – 3 days
Alfalfa	5 – 10 hours	3 – 5 days
Almond	8 – 10 hours	2 – 3 days
Buckwheat	1 – 2 hours	2 – 3 days
Clover	8 – 10 hours	3 – 4 days
Corn	10 – 15 hours	3 – 5 days
Fenugreek	10 – 12 hours	4 – 5 days
Lentils	10 – 12 hours	2 – 3 days
Millet	8 – 11 hours	1 – 2 days
Oat Groats	8 – 10 hours	1 – 2 days
Peas	9 – 12 hours	2 – 3 days
Quinoa	8 – 10 hours	2 – 3 days
Rice	9 – 12 hours	3 – 4 days
Rye	9 – 12 hours	2 – 4 days
Sesame Seeds	8 – 11 hours	3 – 4 days
Spelt	6 – 12 hours	3 – 4 days
Sunflower Seeds	6 – 8 hours	2 – 3 days
Triticale	9 – 12 hours	2 – 4 days
Wheatgrass	10 – 12 hours	7 – 10 daysSprouting chart brought to you by: http://www.juicingbook.com/sprouts

Posted on Tuesday, December 7th, 2010 at 7:53 am. Filed under: Raw Techniques RSS 2.0 feed.