Sprouting question

[SunshineMN]

We finally got around to starting some sprouts. I know we're supposed to rinse them at least twice a day, it's really cold here right now so I doubt they are generating much heat. Is it okay if the seeds dry out between rinsing or are they supposed to remain a little damp to sprout? The sunflower seeds, amaranth, and lentils look like they stayed at least damp but the alfalfa seeds looked almost completely dry. Do we need to be rinsing them more often?

[fastfreedom]

If they completely dry out they will quit growing.

I've always rinsed twice a day. But I also use jars so it stays pretty moist in there.

[DebB]

I do exactly the same as fastfreedom ~

[SunshineMN]

Well hmm... I'm using quart jars as well. In fact, my setup is just like your's Deb. Hehe, I saw yours and ordered the bamboo dishrack to hold the jars at an angle. Some jars I use wire mesh circles (for the larger seeds) and others I bought some cheesecloth and hemmed small squares (for alfalfa, amaranth and quinoa) and put them under the jar ring.

Maybe they dried out so fast because there is only 3 tbsp. of alfalfa and everything else was at least a cup or more. We'll keep a closer watch on them I guess.

Thanks!

[DebB]

Well hmm... I'm using quart jars as well. In fact, my setup is just like your's Deb. Hehe, I saw yours and ordered the bamboo dishrack to hold the jars at an angle. Some jars I use wire mesh circles (for the larger seeds) and others I bought some cheesecloth and hemmed small squares (for alfalfa, amaranth and quinoa) and put them under the jar ring.

Maybe they dried out so fast because there is only 3 tbsp. of alfalfa and everything else was at least a cup or more. We'll keep a closer watch on them I guess.

Thanks!

I've got mine on top of the fridge - but, I do put a dish towel along the back of the dish rack to keep that warm air that come up and over the top of the fridge out of the sprouts. If yours are up there, you might want to do something similar?

I think you're right on the money - those alfalfa seeds are so tiny that they do dry out quicker than the larger ones.

Good luck! *Ü*

[SunshineMN]

Ours are sitting in a rubbermaid type container on the dishrack. There is extra room so it's not a tight fit and the top row of jars are pretty much even with the top of the container. I have them mostly covered to keep out the light. The container is sitting on our bedroom dresser. We live in a mobile home and we are in the middle of refinishing it. Unfortunately we don't have inner walls in the living room and it's really cold out there so we're living in the bedroom for the winter. I'm so glad our bedroom is so big! LOL It's usually around 70F in here, in the living room and kitchen it stays closer to 60.

Hehe, I guess I meant that our setup is like yours wasn't exactly right. We plan on putting ours on top of the fridge when we can move back out to the kitchen.

[SunshineMN]

I'm excited! :excited: All but the amaranth appear to have tails already. It's been less than 24 hours. The green peas are just starting but they've only been done soaking about 12 hours now. I've never actually grown anything before. I'm the queen of plant killers typically. :LOL: I'll post pictures in a couple days.

[DebB]

Yay! I'm glad you're having such success! Isn't it *something* when you see these pop to life?? I just love it :) Looking forward to your pictures!

[SunshineMN]

Oh wow. I nibbled on some of the green peas we are sprouting. They taste almost as good as the fresh green peas I had this summer! Yummy... can't wait to have them on a salad. The sunflower seeds were done already last night. The amaranth decided to fill out the jar overnight. We were a bit worried they weren't going to do much then boom! :D Alfalfa is still inching along, we'll probably sprout them until they have their first two leaves. Lentils almost overfilled their jar. We're going to have to start out with less on those and the sunflower seeds or get more half gallon jars to use for sprouting. Next we'll be trying fenugreek (man these things are like little boulders they are so hard!), sesame seeds and maybe some quinoa.

[DebB]

8960


I wonder if you might like sprouting in half gallon mason jars? If so - you can find them at Ace Hardware and they're $12+ for a case of 6. If yours doesn't carry them in stock - you can order them online, have them shipped to the store for free shipping.

The jar pictured is not a Mason jar - for some reason, I wasn't able to post a photo of the actual mason jar - but it is half gallon size.

[Th3Boss]

8960


I wonder if you might like sprouting in half gallon mason jars? If so - you can find them at Ace Hardware and they're $12+ for a case of 6. If yours doesn't carry them in stock - you can order them online, have them shipped to the store for free shipping.

The jar pictured is not a Mason jar - for some reason, I wasn't able to post a photo of the actual mason jar - but it is half gallon size.

fleet farm has a 6 pack of the wide mouth half gallon jars for $8.99

[SunshineMN]

We don't have a Fleet Farm close and we don't currently have a vehicle either. :( Azure has 6 packs of half gallon jars for $11 though so I'll get some next month. :) Had our salad tonight with lentil and sunflower sprouts. I'm not sure the sunflower sprouts are okay though. They have brown spots on them... the seeds themselves not the sprouts. I'll get a picture to post so maybe someone can tell me if they look wrong? I noticed I got a lot of thin skins off the sunflower seeds after we soaked them but I know I didn't get them all out. Are you supposed to?

[SunshineMN]

Mmm... I think I'm in heaven. Just had a mixed lettuce (Red leaf, green leaf, iceberg), cabbage, cauliflower, celery, bok choy salad with alfalfa, amaranth and lentil sprouts. OMG no one had ever mentioned that amaranth sprouts taste like raw sweet corn! I think I'm in love. Yummy! And wow, I didn't think I'd like lentil sprouts. I had cooked lentils a few times over the last 20 years and have never liked them. They make really nice sprouts and I love their texture in my salad.

No pictures yet. Our kitty is missing and it's upset our household quite a bit this weekend. It's freezing rain outside and we're hoping she found some place safe and hopefully a little warmth some where. :(

[DebB]

I'm sorry to hear that your kitty is missing. My good friend's cat went missing a few months ago. The found her 4 days later in the garage, safe & sound.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

We finally got around to starting some sprouts. I know we're supposed to rinse them at least twice a day, it's really cold here right now so I doubt they are generating much heat. Is it okay if the seeds dry out between rinsing or are they supposed to remain a little damp to sprout? The sunflower seeds, amaranth, and lentils look like they stayed at least damp but the alfalfa seeds looked almost completely dry. Do we need to be rinsing them more often?

Yeah, l find that during a cold winter (l keep mine in the shed) that l only need to rinse once a day. Try it and see how it goes.

lt's o.k to let the seeds get alittle dry sometimes, but not too dry. lf the alfalfa is completely dry l would be rinsing twice a day for those for the first few days.

During winter l have managed to keep fully grown alfalfa in a jar on the back lawn for one month before it started deteriorating.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

8960
I wonder if you might like sprouting in half gallon mason jars?.

l used to have two of them a day for 8 months straight lol. l estimate that l ate about three full car loads of alfalfa sprouts during that time.

How do you get the middle sprouts green inside, do you pull them out and re-arrange them so they all get green?

Jars are not the most ideal for green sprouts like fenugreek or alfalfa sprouts.

[SunshineMN]

Jars are not the most ideal for green sprouts like fenugreek or alfalfa sprouts.

Why not? I have no problems at all with alfalfa in glass jars. It sprouts like crazy. We almost always have 2 qts going at a time. The fenugreek also has been sprouting quite well. I do seem to have to pick a few black seeds out of the fenugreek after a day or two but the majority are fine and sprout wonderfully.

[DebB]

l used to have two of them a day for 8 months straight lol. l estimate that l ate about three full car loads of alfalfa sprouts during that time.

How do you get the middle sprouts green inside, do you pull them out and re-arrange them so they all get green?

Jars are not the most ideal for green sprouts like fenugreek or alfalfa sprouts.

Do you mean the sprouts on the 'inside'? The last day of sprouting, I will stand the jar up by a window all day. It has the sprouting lid on. It greens up wonderfully. We just ate a quart of alfalfa & clover tonight for dinner that I greened up yesterday.

While I've never sprouted fenugreek seeds, I've been sprouting alfalfa for years and have only used glass jars with sprouting lids and have had 100% success with them. My naturopath believes alfalfa to be the king of sprouts, much more potent and beneficial than even wheatgrass.

Hey - that was good news to me because it's a whole lot easier to sprout alfalfa than it is for me to grow wheatgrass, hands down! Plus - I like the taste of alfalfa a whoooooole lot better too! :)

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

Do you mean the sprouts on the 'inside'?
Yes.


The last day of sprouting, I will stand the jar up by a window all day. It has the sprouting lid on. It greens up wonderfully.
lnteresting.



My naturopath believes alfalfa to be the king of sprouts, much more potent and beneficial than even wheatgrass.
l used to believe the same for many years, l was the poster child for alfalfa, but now l have read clinical research at HHI that states that wheatgrass juice is the best there possibly is of all the land foods, no wonder grass is all over the earth. Lots of books and websites give very poor opinions on wheatgrass saying it is not very nutritious and a waste of time, but world respected Dr Hunt's opinion and analysis is completely the opposite, and given the sucess of wheatgrass therapy used at HHI, l fully believe what Dr Hunt is saying.

l find wheatgrass to be a brilliant tonic and cleanser. l wonder if the naturopath has good records of patient studies on alfalfa v's wheatgrass, l wonder how he is coming to such conclusions that alfalfa is better than wheatgrass?


Hey - that was good news to me because it's a whole lot easier to sprout alfalfa than it is for me to grow wheatgrass, hands down! Plus - I like the taste of alfalfa a whoooooole lot better too! :)
Both are easy, l actually find it more convenient to sprout wheatgrass on soil. And yeah, grass juice it's not the nicest drink drink in the world, it's pretty foul stuff actually lol. Alfalfa juice taste much better.

[SunshineMN]

Eventually we'll be growing wheatgrass as well. The parent's of a friend of ours are moving and they gave us 20 5-gallon pails of wheat. Most of it is hard red winter wheat. We just don't have the room yet until we finish our livingroom. How much juice do you get from a normal flat of grass?

I have loved alfalfa sprouts since I was a child. Not sure why. I like to munch on them right out of the fridge. :D I don't really care which is better, I want them both. LOL

[DebB]

It's all good!

Mr Raw - I have my alfalfa (and clover) sprouts greening up right now. I snapped a pic and I don't know why it's not letting me upload it...

Yes, I suppose the sprouts in the middle of the jar, inside do not get much sun - but they are beautiful green nonetheless?

How do you sun yours? I could spread them out on a tray or such, but I don't want them to dry out.

[MysticTree]

Eventually we'll be growing wheatgrass as well. The parent's of a friend of ours are moving and they gave us 20 5-gallon pails of wheat. Most of it is hard red winter wheat. We just don't have the room yet until we finish our livingroom. How much juice do you get from a normal flat of grass?

I have loved alfalfa sprouts since I was a child. Not sure why. I like to munch on them right out of the fridge. :D I don't really care which is better, I want them both. LOL

I love it that you know someone who would have even one 5 gallon pail of wheat let alone 20 :o)

[SunshineMN]

I believe it was their disaster preparedness stash. Hehe, guess they just didn't want to move that much stuff, they are moving half way across the US. They also gave us a manual grain mill but I'm not sure what to do with it.

[streetsurfer]

I believe it was their disaster preparedness stash. Hehe, guess they just didn't want to move that much stuff, they are moving half way across the US. They also gave us a manual grain mill but I'm not sure what to do with it.

I just posted in another thread about powdering beet root to preserve it. Maybe your grinder would be able to make flour of sorts out of beets, or other roots and veggies for adding to smoothies, i.e. carrots, radish, peas.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

How do you sun yours? I could spread them out on a tray or such, but I don't want them to dry out.

l grow mine in a jar in the dark, but a day or two before the harvest, l put them in indirect light. After a day in indirect light l take the hulls off. l use this opportunity to move all the alfalfa around so it gets green all over.

During the dead of winter l just leave all my 4 day old alfalfa sitting in the back yard directly under the sky because l never see the sun. l water every second day and just move the sprouts around in the jars when l feel it is needed. l have even managed to keep alfalfa sprouts good after sitting them in the middle of the backyard unwatered for a whole 30 days.

So yes, growing methods vary radically depending on the season.

[SunshineMN]

Thanks for the idea Streetsurfer. I may try that this fall to preserve some for winter. :)

[DebB]

http://i932.photobucket.com/albums/ad169/DebB4007/ResizeofRotationofAlfalfaClovergreeninguponlastday .jpg

This is the picture I snapped a couple days ago. Because I juice my sprouts right now, I don't remove their hulls - but that's normally what I do to Mr Raw before I sun them :)