Only took me five years but... I'm sprouting!

[Aleesha Sattva]

It's only taken me five years to finally do this. I tried at one point and everything moulded so I gave up but... this raw mama is trying again!

I pulled out my new sprouter today - put in some seeds... watered it and we'll get some yummy sprouts growing to add to fruit salads and green salads... or to eat as a yummy snack.

Can't wait!!!

No more buying sprouts for me. Fresh is best!!!

[MysticTree]

Good news indeed :)

[Traceyraw]

Yeah. Aleesha. I have only had success with lentils but I just bought a sprouter for alfalpha. Enjoy

[Living Food]

Good for you!

[Aleesha Sattva]

It seems to be draining weird... but... we'll see how it goes. I'm hoping to be super successful with this! (hoping hoping hoping...)

[ReneeH]

You GO gurl!!!! I'm so proud of you!!! I just LOVE a person who keeps trying!!! :hug

I do mine like Alissa... I just use a bowl with a paper towel and it works fine. I'm sprouting some Rye Berries (for Bagels LOLF) and Buckwheat (for Calzones!!!! LOLF) right now.

I'd love to see a photo of your sprouter...

[Aleesha Sattva]

It's a biosnacky.

http://www.jungleseeds.com/images/BiosnackyLargeSprouter.jpg9071

[ReneeH]

OOOHHH, AWWW!!!!! Cool!!!! Never used one of those!!! I can't wait to hear how your sprouts come out! You just LOOK like you have a green thumb!!! :wuv:

[Aleesha Sattva]

normally i do have a green thumb. my house plants are gorgeous. so i'm hoping my sprouting abilities from a past life come to this life and SPROUT THOSE SEEDS!

[DebB]

You can do it!!

[Aleesha Sattva]

so glad you all have confidence in me... i'm hoping i can do it.

;)

[SunshineMN]

We use glass quart jars but if I can do it so can you! I usually kill plants but the sprouts have been very easy. Nothing like fresh alfalfa sprouts, I absolutely love them. :)

[Aleesha Sattva]

I heard that it can be more tricky to sprout in more humid climates and we are very humid here... that said... I HAVE SPROUTS!!! My sunflower seeds have little sprouts on many of them.

*dancing around* Oh ya... I can do this!!!

[Raw Angel Mom]

I working on doing micro green sprout. I don't have a green thumb but i will keep trying too. I haven't sprout for a while. I can do the chick peas and lentil no problem and some grains, but the tiny seeds are trickier for me.

Congratulations!

[Aleesha Sattva]

i'm going to pick up some chick peas and lentils today when i'm out. my absolute fav is sunflower seeds and chick peas so even if that's all i can sprout, i'll be happy but i would like a variety.

[MysticTree]

Red cabbage and radish are so yummy too.And of course you can do this. Seeds want to grow. It's their whole reason for being.

[Aleesha Sattva]

red cabbage and radish? really? i've never heard of red cabbage. i think radish is what i tried a few years ago and moulded on me. i'll definitely try it again.

please keep the suggestions coming... i'm a newbie in this realm of the raw food empire and darth vadar is not my father *giggling*

[SunshineMN]

We love sprouted fenugreek around here. Alfalfa and fenugreek are the two seeds we always sprout when we are sprouting. We also love amaranth because of it's sweet corn taste and smell. Lentils are very easy to sprout as well, I just need more ideas for using them, I get tired of them in my salads.

I've heard red cabbage is good, I haven't looked very hard for those seeds though. We just sprouted some broccoli seeds but I haven't tried them yet, they were easy but seem to take a little longer to fully sprout like our clover does. I'm thinking they may want a little warmer temperature than some of the others.

Next up I'm going to try dill and caraway. I haven't had any luck with sesame seeds yet, they just got all smelly so we tossed them. I'm wondering if the ones we got might have been "stabilized" in which they use heat. :( Haven't had much luck with hulled sunflower seeds either. I'm thinking we may just have to sprout unhulled sunflower and sesame seeds on dirt instead.

I'm so happy you're sprouting Aleesha! Sprouts are amazing and it's fun to watch them grow. :D

[MysticTree]

I particularly like red cabbage sprouts in raw sushi. I must try amaranth.

[Juicerguy]

I really want to start growing/sprouting my own wheat grass and barley grass. I want to juice these two and they are pretty unaffordable in juicing quantities around here. Is this process the same or is this something completely different that you are taking on here?

[michigan roman]

wheat / barley is very very easy to grow , you cant stop it from growing . its like a weed

just take steel bow rake and rough up so rich garden soil down a few inches then sprinkle / broadcast seed over the area at a rate of a seed every 1/4" or so ,
then rake into soil a little bit , then sprinkle like a 1/4" of soil over the area

in less than 2 weeks youll have 4" grass you start cutting off at ground level with cheap dollar store kitchen type sheers / scissors

i buy wheat seed at local bulk store or whole foods market at just over a buck per pound = dirt cheap

[Aleesha Sattva]

Where do you all get your seeds? I checked at Whole Foods today and only found organic chick peas (which I bought)...

So where do I get other yummy seeds like fenugreek?

[Aleesha Sattva]

a pic of the sprouts from this morning. they are sproutacular now!:wuv

[streetsurfer]

Sproutacular is right :woot:. I expected nothing less though honestly, based on how fast you grew on me.

(( hugs ))

It's nice to have you back.

[Juicerguy]

Nice. Cool pics of the sprouts there. Pretty cool and interesting stuff in general. Thank you Michigan Roman I had no idea it was that easy. I live in a little quad plex apartment deal here, but we have some space in the back of each apartment. We also have a little garden area on the side, but my neighbor has a lot going on there. I assume what you were talking about might work with a wood planter? You know the wood box rectangular kind of planters? I would really love to start growing some wheat or barley grass for juicing.

Maybe also do some sprouting as well. Thanks for sharing the pictures and Aleesha! :)

[MysticTree]

You can also grow wheat grass inside. I use the trays from my electric steamer with some blanket in the bottom.There are lots of tutorials on youtube.

[MysticTree]

Aleesha,I don't know about your side of the pond but over here much can be bought from the supermarket and where that falls short, most health food stores have a good sprouting selection.

Online there are places such as sproutpeople.You can go Mr raw's route too and buy in uber bulk from feed and seed merchants who sell organic seeds. I couldn't eat as much sprouted food as that so I find small supplies are adequate.

[SunshineMN]

Azure lists the company as Oregon Spice Company (http://oregonspice.com/index.php) as the supplier of the fenugreek seeds and others we get from them. It looks like they mainly sell in bulk. Maybe you can see if you can find somewhere up there that sells them. Maybe contact them and see if they supply to Canada at all.

When we were looking for a place to move to (my SO is from Kelowna and we'd like to move back in that direction) we discovered that there is a delivery truck that goes to Oroville, WA. We are considering living close to Oliver, BC and driving down to Oroville to meet the truck whenever we need to order from Azure. The routes there are different from what we'd do here. There is a guy who owns his own truck and Azure delivers to them, then they deliver to their route. They are called Great Northern Trading Company (http://www.greatnortherntrading.net/Pages/default.aspx). If you like enough stuff from Azure and aren't too far away from Oroville, it may be worth your while to make a trip every few months. This is assuming I'm remembering correctly that you're in the Okanagon Valley.

PS: It's really great to see you back! I was hoping you'd return. :D

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

It seems to be draining weird... ..)

Yes, all the bio-snackies have major design faults in them, and the one with the red knobs always has had a draining fault . Just drill some small holes where the red knobs covers over the area and place the red knob back so it covers over the drilled holes. When you drain them, just put a piece of wood under one side of the biosnacky so it drains quickly, and line all the drain holes up. Maybe even try the jar method until you get fully confident with this.

l am so pleased you are giving the sprouting a go. Stay determined to make it work and don't give up. lf you give up, you lose. lf you stay determined you will win big time in the end. lt's cheap, it's easy, and it's the healthiest food of all. Try some alfalfa and bean and lentil sprouts...eat `em and blend `em.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

I heard that it can be more tricky to sprout in more humid climates

Yes, it is the hardest condition to sprout, but it can be done.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

I haven't had any luck with sesame seeds yet, they just got all smelly so we tossed them.

Most likey they are irradiated.


( Haven't had much luck with hulled sunflower seeds either.
Hulled sunflower seeds are best only sprouted for 24 hours and spray 2 or 3 times a day on a sprouting tray. They start oxidising and going brown otherwise. Jars are not the best for hulled sunflower seeds.


I'm thinking we may just have to sprout unhulled sunflower and sesame seeds on dirt instead.
Unhulled sunflower on soil is as good as it gets. Super dooper food, + it contains the highly elusive vitamin D2 which the body will convert to D3...very very important amongst other things. Could write a book on sunflower greens. They are a miracle food...one of the greatest foods ever!

No need for sesame to grow on dirt, just find good seeds that haven't been treated and sprout for 1 - 2 days in good weather.

Nothing beats the sprouts, they are head and shoulders above all the other foods. They make mere mortals become super beings, no kidding. Everyone seems to be getting into sprouting now, i've been getting heaps of health minded people into it. l've gotta start giving talks on the sproutarian lifestyle soon, it's one of the reasons l was put on the Earth.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

a pic of the sprouts from this morning. they are sproutacular now!:wuv

Those sunflower are oxidising. Only one day sprouting is enough. Not all of them will sprout when they are hulled, but 50% germination is far better than none. You can make a good cheese paste and yogurt from sunflower and sesame sprouts too.

[SunshineMN]

Thanks Mr Raw, that's my problem. I wish we could sprout them to longer tails but I will settle for less of a tail because I love sunflower seeds. I'm still not sure about the sesame seeds but I'll write the company and find out if they were treated or not. I may have to find a different source.

[Aleesha Sattva]

I don't care about the length of tail... it's more about the energy awakening that I'm interested in.

Mystic, I'm so "duh" some days. I know of a great health food store in a little town an hour away from here that has a huge seed selection - all organic. I'll go there! (It's where I bought my sprouter from a year ago... you'd think I would have remembered it LOL)

Thanks to everyone who's contributing... I'm off to have a sprout-filled fruit salad for breakfast!

*nice to know about the sunflower seeds - I'll eat them up today and start more!*

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

lt's easy to get carried away and assume that longer tails are always better, but this is not the case. With sesame and sunflower, short tails are best because if they get too long sesame becomes bitter and sunflower oxidises. With Lentils, alfalfa, fenugreek etc...long tails are best to remove various natural toxins. With chickpeas, medium tails are best, otherwise they get tough and lose their taste. With mung, medium/long tails are best, but not too long otherwise they lose their soft juicy ways. When you get used to sprouting you will know the exact time it is ready; a day too early and they are not at their best, and a day too late and they are not at their best...you even get to know the exact margin within 6 hours when they will be perfect.

[Aleesha Sattva]

Okay I thought I'd update this thread. I've been sprouting consistently since I began with this thread. I find that I usually do alfalfa and sometimes radish sprouts. I don't like the sprouted chick peas (yuck) and I've found that these two are always getting eaten or juiced.

At first I had trouble with my sprouting trays but after using them a few times the little red plugs just stayed in the right place all the time and so draining was no longer an issue.

I'm super pleased with my set up. It's working for me. With a lack of space in the kitchen they seem to be a good fit. I can move them out of the way if needed but otherwise they sit on my counter looking all green and pretty!

[Aleesha Sattva]

oh and I stopped doing sunflower seeds cause they just don't seem to do well beyond one day of sprouting and I don't juice with them. So unless I'm eating... I don't bother. And when I'm eating... (rather than fasting) I soak them around noon the day before and put them in the tray and eat them for breakfast the next day.

[Living Food]

Have you thought about sprouting unhulled sunflower seeds and sprouting them on soil, then juicing the greens?

How about wheatgrass? That would be a great thing to add to your fasts.

[Aleesha Sattva]

I'm allergic to wheat so I can't do wheatgrass.

We live in a really tiny condo so I don't have room to do any significant amount of anything. I can buy sunflower sprouts at whole foods so I just do that and sprout my alfalfa fresh at home. At least that way I get some really nice fresh stuff.

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

Have your tried sprouting fenugreek? That makes an amazing nutritious green drink, and very very cheap too. lt's sprouting methods are the same as alfalfa. l recently bought a 5 kg sack for only $18.00. Massive amounts of iron in those drinks, perhaps the highest source.

Lentil sprouts is another good one but not everyone likes the strong taste. Six cups of lentil sprouts yeilds 30 grams of predigested protein.

So if you drank 250 ml of fenugreek juice (4 tablespoons of seed) and 250 ml of alfalfa juice (3 tablespoons of seed) you will be well ahead of the raw food pack with abundant nutrition and feel good factors. And if you added some algae and had a kelp juice drink, you would be flying to the moon before no time. These are just little things (sprout juices) that people can add around their usual diet to perk it up.

Keep with the updates.

[Living Food]

I'm allergic to wheat so I can't do wheatgrass.

Wow, I forgot that already...sorry.

[Aleesha Sattva]

I would loooooove fenugreek. I'll have to look around for seeds! I wouldn't make a green drink out of them though... I'd add them to my juices. I'm not into really green juices. I prefer my juices to be yummy!

Thanks sooooo much for the info!!!

[The Sproutarian (Mr Raw)]

I'm not into really green juices. I prefer my juices to be yummy!



LOL LOL. To me the green juices are the best part of the diet. l love my green juices and prefer them over everything else, even over fruit.

The good thing about green juices is that they can be consumed quickly, so it's not too much punshment to consume them. Maybe you could even drink green juices by holding your nose so you don't have to taste it lol.

[Aleesha Sattva]

hahahaha I have a policy. If it's not yummy I don't eat/drink/ingest it. So this works on many levels. If I'm not really enjoying something I don't just sit there and keep eating it. I stop. I push it away. I don't put it into my body.

And to me... almost all raw stuff is yummy. Not crazy over nut things... but overall - it's all good.

'cept green only juice.. yucky!