Saturday, May 24, 2008

SPROUTING AND COMPOST

I became interested in 2 subject this week and both are organic. It is about sprouting and compost... In this weeks blog, I'll share a little that I found out about sprouting and in the next blogging, will try to share information on the compost.

Growing sprouts at home are very fresh packed with nutrients.It is also easy and with very little time or effort, you can supply yourself an abundance of live food, in your home.

Below are some of the seeds that can be sprouted, you'll be amazed with the list.....

Alfalfa – means ‘father of all foods’ in Arabic, a lovely mild taste means you can’t grow enough. Sensitive to heat, ready in 7 days.

Buckwheat – actually a herb, likes light, warmth and wet. Needs to soak for 12 hours and a larger mesh or holes to root into than normal, use black unhulled seeds. The hulls are susceptible to mould so rinse well, ready in 10 days.

Cabbage – very small seeds make rooting difficult, use a very fine mesh. Strong cabbagey flavour, ready in 6 days.

Clover (red) – like alfalfa but sharper taste and bigger leaves, ready in 6 days.

Fenugreek – Tall and bitter, prefers cool temperatures. Mix with milder sprouts to tone it down, ready in 9 days.

Garlic – expensive, but just as good as the bulb for health and taste, but with less odorous after effects. Seed jackets don’t come off easily, just eat them! The first week will see little growth, ready in 12 days.

Mustard – as you’d expect this tiny sprout is hot. Use the black type as it’s easier to grow. Too hot for mass consumption, better for spicing up other meals, ready in 6 days.

Radish – hot, rinse well, ready in 6 days.

Sunflower (in shell) – sprout black ones as the shells fall off more easily and rinse well as they are prone to mould. As buckwheat, soak long and use a larger mesh, they get big! Ready in 10 days.

Wheatgrass – looks like grass and must be juiced. Soak hard wheat grains for 12 hours and use a large holed tray or basket. Harvest with scissors, has a strong flavour and many health giving properties, ready in 12 days.

Adzuki – cousin of the mung bean, crispy, use in salads sparingly, ready in 5 days.

Barley – grows about 2 to 3 times the length of the grain, better cooked, ready in 2 to 5 days.

Chickpea – cook, makes good sprouted humus, ready in 4 days.

Lentil – very easy to grow, steam them or eat sparingly on salads, ready in 5 days.

Kamut – this ancient grain is more nutritious and used the same way as wheat if you can find it. Sprout till the shoots are half the size of the berry, 4 days.

Mung – the famous Chinese sprout, to get them long, grow under a heavy bag of water with a banana or two nearby, (it gives off ethylene gas, a plant growth hormone.) The seed hulls don’t move easily, let them float away by holding the sprouts underwater, ready in 5 days but you can grow longer.

Oats – use oat groats, you can eat sprouts raw, but better cooked, sweet. Ready in 3-5 days.

Pea (green) – like lentils, but bigger and needs cooking, ready in 5 days.

Sunflower (hulled) – sweet nutty taste, but gets bitter and moulds easily if you leave them too long, grow for 2 days, then eat.

Quinoa – Hard to find, untested.

Wheat – sprout this and use it to make sprouted breads, ready in 3-5 days.

As on how to sprout, just soak them for about half a day, rinse them and wet them on daily basis and rinse them..... simple as that. You can use a jar, tray, plastic bag and etc...

There are many websites that has detailed information and there are sprouters that can be bought....

Happy sprouting....
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