Beansprouts and microgreens

Most seeds can be sprouted, but some sprouts should not be eaten raw.

All the sprouts of the solanaceae (tomato, potato, paprika, aubergine) and rhubarb must not be eaten as sprouts, either cooked or raw, as they can be poisonous. Please, just don’t bother.  As far as I can tell rhubarb is food of the devil anyway so why would you?

You also need to be sure the seeds you have are intended for sprouting or human consumption rather than sowing.  Seeds intended for sowing are often treated with chemical dressings, fertilisers and other ignominious substances.  In some places edible seeds have to be heat treated, making them impossible to sprout anyhow.

The most common sprouts, with the ones I have sprouted and eaten in bold include:

•  Pulses (legumes; pea family): alfalfa, clover, fenugreek, lentil, pea, chickpea, mung bean and soya bean  – these are the beansprouts you usually buy in the supermarket.
•  Cereals: oat, wheat, maize (corn), rice, barley, rye, kamut and then quinoa.
•  Oilseeds: sesame, sunflower, almond, hazelnut, linseed, peanut.
•  Brassicas – the cabbage family) broccoli, cabbage, watercress, mustard, mizuna, radish and daikon, rocket, turnip
•  Umbelliferous vegetables (parsley family) – these may be used more as microgreens than sprouts. carrot, celery, fennel, parsley.
•  Allium (onions) – cannot really distinguish between microgreens. onion, leek
•  Other vegetables and herbs: spinach, lettuce, milk thistle, lemon grass

Many of these can be left for a few more days until they have real leaves – these are microgreens.

The Technique

Seeds are generally ‘asleep’ and they also need a good cleaning so wash the seeds in several changes of lukewarm water to get rid of any dust and other rubbish.  Then leave the seeds steeping in the last change of water – small seeds I leave for fifteen minutes – bigger seeds I leave for up to eight hours or more (sunflower).

Prepare your growing chamber –  I use a large sweetie jar with a fine mesh cloth over the neck. The jar is tilted to such an angle that there is no standing water. Standing water makes the seeds rot and the whole thing smell foul. If it doesn’t smell clean don’t eat it.

Drain the seeds.

Tip the seeds into the growing chamber and shake to distribute.

Leave in a prominent place. (I find next to the kitchen sink is good)

Rinse the seeds and growing chamber every day with fresh water.

Some seeds are best if grown in the dark – I don’t do this

Within 3-5 days you should have crunchy shoots from the majority of the seeds.

The shoot and cotyledons (false leaves) are built up from the foodstuff in the seed so can’t have any more nutritional value than the seeds (perhaps a bit more fibre….) leaving the sprouts for a few more days until the true leaves develop harvests a bit of sunlight and therefore a bit of extra nutrition.

Start off with soya beans from the health food shop and experiment a little. I generally have a pot of pea greens and spinach on the go at all times. My supermarket wants to charge me 1.50 GBP for each bag of microgreens. I say No….

Remember – if it smells off – it is off soooooo don’t eat it.