Sprouts are superfoods that you can easily include in your daily diet! Ayurvedic practitioners, nutritionists, and holistic health coaches highly recommend the power of sprouts because of its nutritional value and numerous health benefits.
Sprouts are considered as super foods as they help in digestion, help lower blood sugar levels, and are linked to reducing the risk of heart disease and many more.
Generally, most edible grains can be sprouted, such as grains, seeds, and legumes.
How to Sprout
To sprout, you don’t need much, just a jar or container, cloth, and pure water can do. Before anything else, ensure that the grains, seeds, and legumes you are using are of quality. Make sure that they are of sproutable type. An example of a non sproutable are soya beans as they become sour. We highly recommend to use grains that are organically grown and avoid those that are chemically treated as this affects the germination rate.
Step 1: Wash the seeds/ grains thoroughly until the water turns clear. I may keep writing seeds below, but same is true for grains and legumes. I make sprouts from mung beans, muth daal or horse gram almost every day and they are all legumes.
Step 2: Soak the seeds overnight in a container of water. Ensure that your container has space for expanding, as the seeds will expand in about four to eight times their original size. Cover the container. The duration of soaking varies according to the seeds, beans or legumes you used. Smaller seeds can be soaked at a shorter time (5 hours) while beans and grains usually for overnight.
Step 3. The following morning, drain the water and rinse the seeds again. Now transfer them to a jar and cover the jar with cheesecloth or window screen flywire mesh, with a couple of rubber bands to hold the cloth or wire in place. I prefer using wire and rubber bands as I don’t need to open the jar. Twice a day I just add some freshwater, rinse the seeds and throw the water so the seeds are moist. I keep the jar horizontal on my kitchen window sill.
Sprouting varies according to the temperature and humidity but in most common cases, the seeds are germinated and ready to eat in 2-3 days.
Step 4: Serve as you would like.
Top health benefits of sprouts according to different sources
- Aids in Digestion
- Strengthens the immune system
- Reduce Acidity
- Rich in antioxidants
- Good for the heart with its omega 3-fatty acids content.
- Great for eyesight
- Aids in weight loss
- Boosts blood circulation
- Reduces high level of acidity
- Reduces allergic reactions
- Relieve cold sores
- Best for eye care
Sprouted Mung Salad Recipe
Ingredients
1 cup mung sprouts
1 lebanese cucumber
1 small tomato
1 celery stick
1 carrot
2 tbsp. chopped fresh coriander
Salt to taste
1 tbsp. lemon juice
Preparation:
Dice cucumber, tomato, celery, stick finely. Grate carrot. Add sprouts. In winter, you can steam them for 30 seconds if you like, depending on your body type, but you don’t need to. Mix all the ingredients together. Add salt, pepper, lemon juice and any herbs like coriander or mint if you like.
I also make a variety of sprouts and then grind them, adding grated vegetable to it and use the batter for making savoury pancakes – great, healthy breakfast or snack.
