Sprouting/Wheatberry Failures...Why?

[Melissa]

Hi. I'm new to these boards and learning a lot. I'm on Day 14 of 100% raw and doing well overall. Had wheatgrass this summer for the first time and loved the energy it gave me but have had two failures trying to grow it. Both times I covered wheat berries with water and rinsed 2x day, until they grew a very very small tail (waiting longer didn't produce longer sprout.) By the second or third day, I decided not to plant them (both times) because they had a slightly fermented, very unpleasant odor. The odor would dissipate when I rinsed them a lot, so both times I decided to use them as the basis for dehydrator bread. Adapted recipes from Juliano's book and the batter seemed nice, but after LOTS of dehydrating (24 hrs.) the "bread" was disgusting, not firm at all, runny, not nice smelling despite all the nice ingredients (dates, apples, bananas, spices etc) Both times--including this morning--the mess went right into the trash. I'm so ravenous for carbs as I transition into raw foods that I ate an entire teflex sheet's worth of flax/sunflower seed crackers in two days (At least I'm getting cleaned out, ha!) I really craved that moist sweet chewy mock-bread as in the book photos but just can't do it yet. And more importantly, I want to get my kitchen sprouting a wheatgrass jungle and that's not happened yet either. What am I doing wrong? Any advice very appreciated.

[rawjojo]

Are you wanting to grow wheatgrass to juice or are you trying to sprout it to use for other purposes?

[Melissa]

Jojo, I'd love to grow wheatgrass for juicing. I used the slightly sprouted wheatberries for bread "dough" when it looked like sprouting wasn't working out. But then the bread didn't work out either. Strike two. I'm looking for tips about this new world of wheatgrass!

[Sheryl]

I think I may know what's happening!!

I recommend only soaking the wheat berries for 12 hours, then draining very well. You then rinse every day or so until the tails are the length you want, draining each time (never leave the berries in water after the first soak period or they rot).

If you're going to plant them in soil for wheatgrass you can either plant them immeditaely, or wait until small tails form (the length of the seed).

If you kept the wheat soaking in water the seeds basically die from drowning. They need air! Some people even drain them into a collander/strainer and leave them to sprout in that. It makes for very easy rinsing, especially if you can keep them near the sink.

When dehydrating 'bread' I find that thinner is better. In some books they show these huge loaves of raw bread, however when I do that the middle tends to go sour - a sure sign that something is breeding in the bread! I'm not really into fermenting, so I prefer to make smaller buns about 1 cm thick. They dehydrate to a nice level even overnight.

Take care,
Sheryl
www.Raw-Pleasure.com