Anyone try sprouting Fenugreek?

[SunshineMN]

The fenugreek we bought has such a wonderful scent! We soaked them last night and rinsed them before we went to bed. They were rinsed again when we got up. Tonight when we went to rinse them they had black mold in the jar. None of the other 6 jars (of other various seeds) have any mold. Has anyone tried and successfully sprouted them?

We're also seeming to have a rusting problem with the metal screens I bought to use. I've heard of people using plastic canvas (the type you use for crafting) and making lids from those. Is the canvas safe for contact with food?

[DebB]

No, I haven't tried sprouting fenugreek. It does smell good though, doesn't it? I make a tea daily that's a lung decongestant and fenugreek seeds are in there. The tea smells really sweet.

I've made the plastic canvas lids and to be honest, I never thought if the plastic was safe or not. Good question! Here's a picture of the 3 colored lids I use the most. They all come on a sleeve for $5 at our health food store. I just went to their website and didn't see them though.

I rarely use the largest hole lid. That would work for big things like garbanzo beans.

And wow - seems so silly to make a metal sprouting jar lid that rusts!! How disappointing.

[SunshineMN]

I've seen those lids before. I've tried to find information on plastic canvas but didn't get very far. Some call it vinyl weave I guess. But I still don't know. I bought some looseweave floursack towels and cut them into squares and have been using those with the metal ring lids but they are getting all black from the edge of the lids. I'm not sure what my problem is at this point. LOL I had to soak the cloth in vinegar over night to get rid of some of the black/staining but they aren't going to work very long term either. At least most of our sprouts are going. Only had a problem with the quinoa and red lentils and one jar of amaranth (which started fermenting... got too warm I think).

Btw, the fenugreek sprouts turned out wonderfully twice now. I think it smells like celery seed and maple syrup. I looked it up and apparently fake maple flavor is usually made with fenugreek. My SO loves the fenugreek sprouts and is starting to smell like them!

[DebB]

Yes - it does smell like maply syrup - you're right! I also inhale this tea (over the simmering pot) and it reminded me of oatmeal and I think it's maple oatmeal it reminds me of.

Where do you get fenugreek seeds? Do they taste 'sweet'...?

I think that canvas is also called needle point canvas. But I guess it would be hard to find the kind of info you're looking for cuz who else but us crazy raw foodies would use it for food related items?? ;)

Another thing it's good for - I've lined my RV refrigerator shelves and door shelves with it. Keeps the shelves looking new and is a snap to clean. I've got it lining my kitchen fridge door shelves too.

I'll be honest - I really like the plastic lids vs the 2 piece lids. Something about having them all in 1 piece really appeals to me. But, when I fill the jars to rinse the seeds 2x a day - they don't always want to fill. It's like the water doesn't want to go through there. There's probably some physics reason why...

And I've never once had a mold problem using these lids - I think they offer really good air flow. I keep the jars tilted at about 45° angle during the sprouting process for good air flow.

[SunshineMN]

I bought a pound of fenugreek from Azure. I think it was from Oregon Spice Co? I would say they are mildly sweet, somewhat like alfalfa to me, with a slight maple aftertaste. But I'm a sprout newbie for the most part. Btw, they are very easy to sprout and they have a high rate of sprouting. I'm having a problem with their clover sprouting though, unless clover is reeeeealy slow to grow.

I get a lot of crazy looks when I ask about plastics. It's a bit frustrating trying to figure out which ones are safe and which aren't! And most people don't seem to care so why would companies go out of their way to say what it is?

I have the filling problem with the cloth ones if I'm not careful and the whole cloth gets wet. Good luck getting the water back out in that case. LOL It's all going pretty good though. We rinse them every 8 hours. It's kinda warm here in our room and we started fermenting seeds because of the heat! The rest of the house stays around 60 degrees most days. Soon as it warms up a little they'll move out to the kitchen and have better air circulation. That may be enough to solve my problem.

I highly recommend amaranth sprouts too if you like sweet corn.

[DebB]

That's strange about the clover Sunshine. I use both their alfalfa & red clover and I mix them 50-50. I've got 4 jars of that going right now.

Now, I am noticing that they do not get as big as they do when it's warmer, interesting.

Plus when I buy sprouted clover in the store, it's SO much bigger than the clover I sprout. When my mix runs out, I'm going to sprout alfalfa alone. I'm on a detox program and the naturopath I'm working with says alfalfa is superior to wheat grass. I'm sprouting it to juice it daily in a green juice.