de-hulling

[lil fairy z girl]

am very new to sprouting. Just wondering is there an easy way to de-hull sprouts? Have just sprouted some alfafa and have tried the salad spinner method as shown on sproutpeople website however it was not very succesful. is there a better way? Is de-hulling something you should do with everything you sprout? Are the hulls of sprouts edible?

thanks
sal
~*~*~*

[DebB]

Hi sal ~ I don't know if the hulls are edible (I'm thinking they probably are) but, I prefer to give them a bath and get rid of the hulls...

The picture below is how I get rid of the hulls. When I'm done ladling them off - I then pick up all the sprouts out of the water and place them in a colander. I don't dump them into the collander because there's a lot more hulls that have sunk to the bottom.

Then I drain them well by putting them in a big sprout bag and stepping out on the deck and twirling it around. Works for me! *Ü*

[lil fairy z girl]

thank you Deb for your reply and also for the picture. I will try your method the next time I do sprouts :)

thank you for replying,
best wishes,
sal
~*~*~*

[DebB]

You're sure welcome Sal ~ Hope it works well for you! *Ü*

[streetsurfer]

After dumping the sprouts into a large bowl of water, I'll take a few fingers full at a time, and drop them back into the water from a foot or so above, repeating until most of the hulls are loosened. That's gentle enough to not damage the roots, but helps dislodge hulls. I'll then spin it all around in the bowl and the centrigual force helps sort the hulls from sprouts. Many will float to the top and collect around the rim, but some will center in the bottom under the sprouts. I use a slotted spoon (mung beans) or strainer to skim them off the top of the bowl. You can also float them over the edge of the bowl by leaving a trickle of water running into it while working. When sprouted and rinsed in a ball jar, they float out and over the top of the jar fairly well under a light stream of water. You will lose some sprouts so use a drain strainer in your sink and flush the drain well. I've more than once plugged the drain as the spilled sprouts grew in the drainpipe.

[DebB]

We can't post links - but if you Google, "Sunny Raw Kitchen Sprouts" you should come up with the link to her blog and that's where I learned how to de-hull sprouts.

Streetsurfer's post reminded me that I left out so many steps - but her blog post is complete with instructions and photos and great information too. *Ü*