Sprouts are just what they sound like, little baby versions of a plant. They make an excellent alternative to lettuce, and are packed full of nutrients and have very few calories due to high water content. Some sprouts, such as broccoli sprouts can actually contain twenty times the amount of phytochemicals as mature broccoli.

Sprouts will generally have higher vitamin, protein, fiber and essential fatty acid content than either the seed or the mature form. They will also have higher amounts of beneficial enzymes.

Below I will show you how easy and fun it is to grow your own sprouts. I will also teach you about safe handling and preparation of sprouts. This is something your kids will love because, unlike those tomato seeds they planted back in the spring, you only have to wait a few days for harvest!

Growing Your Own

Now this is the kit I bought to grow the sprouts, along with a few additional bags of seeds that I bought. Total cost was around $20. You don't really need a special kit, just a jar with some cheesecloth covering the opening fastened with a rubber band would work too, this kit just makes it really easy to keep the sprouts rinsed and drained.

The seeds are quite cheap, even for organic. I spend two dollars for a little plastic container of mung bean sprouts at the local grocery store, In this article we will grow twice what comes in one of those little containers for about 25 cents.

What you get with this kit is two trays like this with lids. They are just plastic baskets with tiny holes all throughout to allow water out and air in. I suspect a trip to Home Depot might turn up something like this but much cheaper. Kind of reminds me of the filter basket from my parent's old pool.

To start off the process doesn't require much! For each basket you want approximately 1/4 cup of seeds if you are doing larger bean sprouts, and a few tablespoons of seeds if you are doing smaller sprouts such as alfalfa, clover or broccoli.

The seeds go into a couple of bowl, then simply add warm (slightly above room temperature) water and wait about eight hours. The seeds will expand in size several times their original, so you need to account for that when choosing the size of the container and amount of water you add.

Here we see the seeds after eight hours of soaking, they are now ready for the next step.

We now pour the soaking seeds into the tray over the sink, and rinse them for approximately one minute to help remove any remaining dirt or bacteria.

Once the seeds are thoroughly rinsed, spread them out in an even layer across the tray.

The lids now go over the tray, and the tray gets put somewhere warm out of direct sunlight. The darker the location you grow them, the less color that will be in the sprouts (and also less nutrients), however do not place them in direct sunlight or they will certainly dry out and die.

A quick peek at the alfalfa seeds before they guy put away.

You can stack the trays on top of each other, You probably want to put a plate or pan underneath them to catch any little bit of water that drips out.

Now we need to make sure that approximately 3-4 times a day that we take the trays over to the sink and rinse them for another minute or so, let the excess water drain, then put them back to grow some more.

Here we are rinsing the beans at the beginning of day two.

Here are the mung beans near the end of day two. We can now see all the beans are split open and starting to send out little shoots.

Day three has arrived, and the sprouts are starting to grow in bulk, they have nearly doubled in size since last night. Roots have begun to protrude from the bottom, just brush those off with your fingers when you are rinsing them.

The alfalfa sprouts are finally starting to come to life here.

At the end of day 3, they are starting to look delicious.

.... To Be Continued ...

Nutritional Information:

Nutrients In One Cup Serving Of Sprouts

Sprout Safety

Because of the environment they are grown in (warm and moist), there is a high potential for bacteria on the sprouts. In commercial farms, sprouts are often treated with calcium hypochlorate, which is what is used to chlorinate swimming pools. This definately makes some people a little uneasy, especially those who want organic vegetables.

A study done by S. Pao, A. Kalantari and M.F. Khalid shows that something as simple as hot water can be effective at eliminating both E. Coli and Salmonella bacteria from sprouts. The author states, " Dipping alfalfa sprouts in hot water at 70, 80, 90 and 100 degrees Celcius, respectively, for 10, 5, 3 and 3 seconds eliminated Salmonella. For mung bean sprouts, the elimination was observed at 70 or 80 degrees Celcius for 20 seconds, 90 degrees Celcius for 10 seconds, or 100 degreec Celcius for 5 seconds."

Another study, by Alexander Weiss and Walter Hammes looked at the problem from a different angle - removing the contamination before the seeds were even germinated. This would prevent changing the texture of the sprouts by immersing them in hot water. The idea is that the bacteria are present on the seeds from the beginning, so eliminating it at that stage will eliminate the problem as the seeds sprout.

As for how long to treat the seeds, the author notes, "The germination ratio resulting from exposure to various time/temperature regimes was determined for alfalfa and radish seeds. As shown in Fig. 1, hot-water treatment of radish seeds can be performed in a range of 55-62 [degrees]C for 2-8 min (Fig. 1a), whereas alfalfa seeds permit a treatment range of 55-64 [degrees]C for 2-10 min (Fig. 1b). These conditions differ from those determined for mung bean seeds [27], which could be treated from 55 to 80 [degrees]C for 2-20 min." It is suggested in the study that additional time or temperature exposure will greatly reduce the number of seeds that sprout.

Sprout Treatment Times: Seeds vs. Sprout

I would highly reccomend that you use one of these method on any sprouts, especially store-bought. However, even home grown can still be ripe with bacteria if the seeds were not purchased from a reputable source. The USDA and FDA have made great efforts in the past several years to help make sprouts safer for all, but this method of cleaning them seems to be worth the trouble. Please remember it is very important to keep the sprouts clean at all times, and they must be kept refrigerated once ready to eat.

There are many sprouts that are safe to eat , however some can be toxic if eaten raw such as Soybeans and Kidney Beans. Buckwheat sprouts have also been associated with several illnesses, but there seems to be some contreversy surrounding this idea. There are however, many sprouts that are considered safe to eat in reasonable quantities. These include Amaranth, Arugula, Alfalfa, Azuki bean, Barley grass, Broccoli, Clover, Garden cress, Dill, Fenugreek, Lemon grass, Lentils, Lettuce, Milk thistle, Mizuna, Mung bean, Mustard, Pea, Quinoa, Radish, Sunflower, Tatsoi, Wheat grass and Kamut.

There is still a lot of confusion over how safe sprouts are to eat, so as with anything you enjoy, do so in moderation and you should be fine. It is always important to be conscious of safe food handling practices.

Sources Cited

Super sprouts." Consumer Reports 69.11 (Nov 2004): 53(1). General OneFile. Gale. Eastern Michigan University. 15 July 2008 ‹http://find.galegroup.com.ezproxy.emich.edu/ips/start.do?prodId=IPS›.