Spring Health Kick: Seed Sprouting

It's the beginning of March and Spring is starting to, well, spring. As we watch daffodils and crocuses come into bloom I feel my body reawakening and craving fresher foods, more movement and the general shrugging off of my winter state of hibernation. In order to kick start this process, it is around time of year that I like to reintroduce sprouted seeds / beans back into my diet as a fantastic means of bulking up salads, soups and omelettes. They are exceptionally high in protein, fibre and B vitamins whilst being deliciously nutty flavour and crunchy texture.  

If you fancy giving sprouting a go then here's how to do it.

You will need:

A seed sprouting kit (mine can be found here)

A selection of dried beans and / or seeds (I am using a dried bean mix bought from a local health food store and some alfalfa seeds)

1. Add 2-3 teaspoons of the dried beans to the lowest tray of your sprouter. Beans only at this point, no seeds.

2. Soak the beans for 6-8 hours minimum or, even better, overnight. Do not soak your seeds at this point as they are not as hard and therefore take much less time to soften in order to sprout.

3. After being left for a sufficient amount of time, drain the beans using one of the upper, slatted, trays of the sprouter.

4. Then, evenly spread the beans out over that same tray and stand it on top of the base layer.

5. Place a different tray atop this and scatter a small handful of seeds over it. 

6. Pour over a light sprinkling of water and pop your sprouter to one side in a place that it can stand for 2-3 days.

7. Once a day, for the next 2-3 days, re-immerse your bean tray in clean water and take out any beans that may be rotting. Similarly, re-sprinkle your seed tray with fresh water before stacking all the layers back up and leaving to one side again.

8. After around 2-3 days you should start to see little white tails sprouting from your beans and seeds. Once the beans and seeds are soft enough to eat (although they will still be crunchy in texture) then they are ready. If you use a particularly large, or hard, variety of bean then it might take an extra day or two for them to fully sprout.

9. Once ready, then store your little sprouts in a glass jar in the fridge and use within 4-5 days.

With all this goodness your body will be ready for Summer in no time!