Sprouting Guide

Many of the Cooking for Balance recipes include sprouts, so this simple guide will explain the benefits of sprouts and will also provide useful tips for making sprouts at home. Or if short on time, sprouts can simply be purchased from the health store, already sprouted and prepared. What are sprouts?

When a seed, nut, bean or grain is germinated with water and it begins to grow, it becomes a sprout. The germination starts a growing process, which aids in the digestibility of the bean/seed/grain and brings a flood of enzymes into each individual sprout.

When sprouting a dry bean or seed, it will transform from a dry, hard ball into a wonderful array of vitamins, minerals, and protein that are much easier for the body to digest and use. The great news is they are really easy to sprout at home for relatively little cost. Once ready they are a great addition to salads, can be used as a garnish on any meal or can add a lovely crunch to soup! Benefits of sprouting

There are many. In fact, all flours back in the day used to be made from sprouted and/or fermented grains for easier digestion. Food producers don’t do this anymore so it’s no wonder an incredible amount of people have problems digesting grains.

Here are some of the key benefits of sprouting:

1. Phytic Acid and Enzyme Inhibitors are Neutralized

Phytic acid binds with calcium, magnesium, iron, copper, and zinc, making it hard to impossible for these nutrients to be absorbed. It’s also irritating to the digestive system. By sprouting grains, legumes or seeds, the phytic acid is neutralized very effectively. Sprouting also neutralizes enzyme inhibitors. This is important because unfortunately, these enzyme inhibitors not only inhibit enzymes in the actual seed, but can also inhibit our own valuable enzymes once they have been eaten.

2. Sprouting Aids Digestibility

Beyond even anti-nutrients that are neutralized by sprouting, there are other changes that take place during sprouting that make it easier for us to digest our seeds/legumes/grains.

“Soaking will also help to diminish some of the fat content and will help convert the dense vegetable protein to simpler amino acids for easier digestion. The

more complex carbohydrates in the foods will also start to break down into the simpler glucose molecules.” Wendy Rudell, Raw Transformation.

Ever experienced problems with legumes causing intestinal gas? Well sprouting helps break down the complex sugars responsible for that, making them easier for all of us to digest.

Sally Fallon gives us one more reason to sprout our grains as well, saying that “Sprouting inactivates aflotoxins, potent carcinogens found in grains.” Nourishing Traditions, pg 112.

Finally, now that the enzyme inhibitors are neutralized, enzymes, which help digest food, are free to be produced during the sprouting process and then benefit us when consumed.

For all of these reasons, sprouting greatly helps digestion.

3. Increases Nutritional Content

“The process of germination not only produces vitamin C, but also changes the composition of grains and seeds in numerous beneficial ways. Sprouting increases vitamin B content, especially B2, B5, and B6. Carotene increases dramatically-sometimes even eightfold.” Sally Fallon, Nourishing Traditions, p. 112.

Sally also mentions how the Chinese used to carry mung beans when on long journeys at sea. They would sprout and eat the mung beans as they contained sufficient amount of vitamin C to prevent scurvy. Who doesn’t need a little extra vitamin C in its natural absorbable form? This is a great benefit for all of us.

Research shows that during the sprouting process mung bean sprouts (or just bean sprouts, as they are often called) increase in vitamin B1 by up to 285 percent, vitamin B2 by up to 515 percent, and niacin by up to 256 percent. Wow!

4. Sprouts Are More Alkalizing to the Body

Some food is acid forming, and some is alkalizing. We need a balance of acid to alkaline food to maintain good health. Unfortunately, we usually have too many acid forming foods in our diet (stress, and environmental stresses also make our body more acidic). Grains, legumes and meats are generally thought to be acid forming (that doesn’t mean that they are bad, rather, they need to be balanced out with alkaline food), while fruits and vegetables are alkalizing. By sprouting grains and legumes, we are helping them become a more alkaline forming food. Remember that by sprouting, we are starting the process of

making a plant. So, in a sense, it’s more like eating a plant or vegetable so therefore more alkalizing. What type of seeds can you sprout?

There are many nuts, seeds and pulses that can be sprouted, but the question is… which are the easiest? Some can be a lot harder to sprout than others so we recommend starting simple and beginning with mung beans; these little guys are just begging to be sprouted. As a beginner they are a really rewarding place to start the journey into sprouting and it is very hard to go wrong. Once confident with these, there really is no limit to what can be sprouted. Here are some examples:

Beans:

Beans are perhaps some of the easiest sprouting choices as they are large and less likely to mould than seeds. They are a nice place to start.

• adzuki • garbanzo • lentil • mung

Seeds:

• alfalfa seeds • broccoli seeds • clover seeds • fenugreek seeds • mustard seeds • onion seeds • radish seeds • pumpkin seeds • sesame seeds • sunflower seeds

Nuts:

Always use raw (this means unpasteurized), unsalted and whole nuts and be aware that nuts sprout on the inside, so you will not see a tail come out as with seeds. You can eat these as soon as they are soaked for 6-8 hours.

• almonds • hazelnuts • pistachios • Brazil nuts • pecans

• walnuts • cashews • macadamia nuts • pine nuts

Grains:

Although we call them grains normally, these are actually seeds that are often classified and used like grains.

• amaranth • buckwheat • millet • quinoa • wild rice

What do you need to start sprouting?

The great news is there is no fancy equipment required, all that’s needed is:

1. Jar (ideally a sprouting jar with a 45° prop – see the guide below on how to sprout with an everyday jar, so you can start today if you want!) 2. Filtered Water 3. Muslin Cloth 4. Elastic band or ribbon (not needed if you have a jar with a two part lid) 5. Sprouting nut/bean/seed of choice.

How long will my sprouts take to grow?

The great news is that after only a few days most sprouts will be ready to eat. The longer the sprout time, the larger their tails will grow and the more sprouty they will become. Different nuts and seeds take longer to germinate, so look at the Sprouting Table below to get an idea of how long each sprout will take to be ready.

Be aware that the smaller the sprout, the more prone it will be to molding. It’s important to be vigilant with rinsing and make sure to drain them well and check them regularly.

FOUR simple steps to sprouting:

Step 1: Soak the seeds, nuts, grains or legumes as per the Sprouting Table. Step 2: Rinse with fresh, filtered water as per the Sprouting Table. Step 3: Store upside down in a glass jar with cheese-cloth over the top, or a sprouting bag. Step 4: Expose the sprouts to sunlight to increase chlorophyll (the blood of plants).

Soaking and Sprouting Table

Start Soak Rinse & Sprout Best with drain time sprout length

Seeds

Alfalfa 2 tbsp 4-6 hours 2-3 5-7 days 1 – 2” times/day

Red Clover 2-3 tbsp 8-12 hours 2-3 5-6 days When times/day sprout is green

Radish 1 tbsp 6-12 hours 2-3 3-5 days ½ - 1” times/day

Broccoli 3 tbsp 6-12 hours 2-3 3-6 days 1” times/day

Beans

Adzuki beans 1 cup 8-12 hours 2-4 3-4 days 2-3” times/day

Garbanzo beans 1 cup 8-12 hours 2-4 3-4 days 2-3” times/day

Lentils 1 cup 8-12 hours 2-4 3-4 days 2-3” times/day

Mung beans 1 cup 8-12 hours 2-4 3-4 days 2-3” times/day

Grains

Quinoa 1 cup 8-10 hours 2-3 1-2 days times/day Just as you Millet 1 cup 8-10 hours 2-3 1-2 days times/day see the tail,

Buckwheat 1 cup 4-6 hours 2-3 1-2 days about 1/8” times/day

Brown rice 1 cup 8-10 hours 2-3 3-7 days times/day

Start Soak Rinse & Sprout Best with drain time sprout length

Nuts and seeds

Almonds 2 cups 6-12 hours Just plump up

Pumpkin seeds 2 cups 6-12 hours 2-3 1-2 days 1/8” times/day

Sunflower seeds 2 cups 6-12 hours 2-3 1-2 days 1/8” times/day

How to eat sprouts

Add to your salads, soups, stews (only at the end) or add to smoothies.

Step-by-Step Sprouting Guide. 1. Choose your preferred bean/seed. Remember to always source organic products to avoid We pesticides which can have an are ready estrogenic affect on the body and to go! may create imbalances.

2. Soak them in a jar for 6-12 hours and if time permits, replace the water they soak in regularly as it will become a murky color due to residues which come out during germination. If sleeping or at work – don’t worry, just rinse them once and be done! 3. After the soaking time, some of the sprouts may already look more alive. They will have increased in size, be softer to the touch and the shells will be cracked. They may even have a little tail already!

4. Drain the sprouts and rinse them a few times in filtered water. Take a small square of muslin and place it over the jar and either replace the outer lid (if the jar has a two part lid) or simply put an elastic band around the top.

5. Leave them in their jar and rinse them with filtered water twice

daily and then drain again. Noticeable changes will occur

every day. They can be eaten when they are small or wait until

they are big and curly!