Does anyone sprout their own seeds/beans for salads etc?

[IlanaK]

I have just started doing this and have some questions:

How long can you grow them for? I mean, mine started sprouting roots and I wondered whether that was ok to eat.

Once sprouted, should they be kept in the fridge?

Would I be best getting a three tiered sprouter or is this a waste of money?

Which taste the best?

Thanks!

I just(used to)put kitchen paper into a jar or onto a take away dish and sprinkle with mung beans or similar, then leave them to shoot, keeping them moist and eating when 2 or 3 inches long at least. They never made it to the fridge. Keep a second and third traying growing so that you have a rotation going.

I buy the beans in bulk from the Asian shop, puy a couple of handfuls to soak for an hour in a bowl of cold water, drain then cover with a plate and put in warm dark place, taking out to rinse several times a day (or as often as I remember, but at least twice!) It takes me 3 days or so to get a good shoot.

Once sprouted, rinse again and you can refridgerate them for a few days in an airtight container - but remember that bought ones are rinsed in bleach or something similar to make them keep - yours won't keep as long.

I usually do mung beans - small green beans.

We eat them with vinaigrette as a salad, or in stir fry.

Madhur Jaffrey has recipes using barely-sprouted beans. But raw unsprouted ones are not good for you! Must be sprouted or cooked!

Don't forget that mung bean shoots are said to be very good cancer cell fighters...always worth knowing that!

I've got the three tier sprouter and at the moment it's got one tray with a mung bean mix that's been going for about 5 days and one with the same mix that went in this morning.

The five day old sprouts will go in a jar and be put in the fridge this afternoon for work lunches on Wednesday and Thursday. They should last a good few days in the fridge, I'm sure I can remember using some that had been in there more than a wee and they were still fine.

When winter gets going I'll be sprouting aduki beans for casseroles. I use them when they've got a tiny sprout - maybe half an inch.

I think the three tier is pretty good value for money as it's far easier to organise a constant supply.

WeeK not wee. My 'K' only works with repeated hammering.

I'd get bored of them with a constant supply.

I go through phases of wanting them in sandwiches or with most meals, then I get bored and put it away. But, I find that when I'm going through one of my 'sprouts with everything' phases the three tier is pretty useful.

What have you sprouted so far?

Mung Beans

I base my bean mix on mung beans 'cos they're cheap and easy to grow, but I can see how they'd get boring quickly on their own.

If I fancy something spicy I'll bung some mustard seed in or if I want a stronger 'veggie' flavour I'll put broccoli seeds in. Lentils are good for flavour and bulk.

I've also sprouted chick peas and used them for hummous - I don't know if I'll do that a lot in the future as the flavour is so different (think fresh and a bit strange).

It might be worth buying a mixed packet from a health food shop and if you like it you can make up your own mixes.

I sound like I work for a sprouter manufacturer. It's amazing how much you learn when you're standing by the sink swishing seeds around.

I couldn't eat sprouted chick pea hummus, too strange!

I have a 3 tier sprouter as it's neater than jars and I can sprout 3 separate things on it or have a running supply. I keep mine in the fridge once they've sprouted enough and they keep well.

I'm trying to remember what on earth I was thinking. I'd probably eaten a Magnum and felt guilty.

Thanks everyone for your replies. In the end I ordered a three tiered sprouter last night and some seeds. I was just using some jars.

I read up a lot last night on the internet (you'd be suprised how many sprouting sites there are!).

I learned that I should not eat too much of the sprouted beans as they are still raw.

But one thing I still don't know is about the roots. When I sprouted some beans last week they grew roots. Did I leave them too long? Can you eat them with the roots? (they were only tiny roots).

Unfortunately, I don't know about the root thing.

I read about sprouted chickpea hummus on a raw food site raving about it. I should've realised that as I don't eat raw and in fact love my normal hummus I wouldn't like theirs, as I didn't!!

I've always eaten the roots. I've never seen anything that warns against eating them. I just put them in the same category as tiny carrots.

Now we're talking about it I'm starting to feel like some raw hummus. I'm sure I'm going to regret this.