Sprouts

Last week I made some sprouts to go with the batch of greens I made.

I used the Avian Vitality Sprouts mix from Avian Organics.

I did have the Boy take pictures of all steps of the process (since these were done with little light available and he has a more fancy flash and other lights than myself..).

Here is the mix, before I washed them and then placed them in water with a few drops of GSE to soak for a few hours. I started them on March 20th in the evening (a Sunday).



I didn't get to them until later in the afternoon of the 21st, having not thought of them before I headed to work. I drained the water, gave them a good rinse and put them in a larger container so they would fit in one layer. I closed the container and put a cloth on it to keep it in the dark.

On the 22nd, my sprouts looked like this.



Not everything had properly sprouted yet so I decided to give them a few more hours. Do note that I continued to rinse the sprouts every morning and evening.

On the 23rd, the sprouts looked like this.



And a close up, because the boy wanted to try his macro lens and it does look kinda cool.



I was happy with the result, gave them a final rinse, drained them well and in the fridge they went. The fridge slows down the sprouting ability quite a bit so there wasn't much difference between their state on the picture above and what they were like when I ran out. The fridge also helps to keep the sprouts slightly longer. I don't bother making a batch that will last more than four days or so though, in case they would spoil.

Why feed sprouts? They are healthy. Contrary to seeds that are dry and "dead", the sprouting brings the seeds/beans back to life. That sprout could become a new plant would you allow it and therefore is jammed pack with nutrients. Unfortunately, don't try sprouting seeds from a regular seed mix - those are generally irradiated to prevent sprouting from happening.