Sprouts are a great way to spice up your diet, and get some extra good stuff! Although you can eat them raw, I generally cook them before consuming them. Mainly because I mostly sprout when I am in Singapore, and in tropical climates, insects and bacteria are more likely to get to them! I do have several really great recipes using different kinds of sprouts, so I will be posting tons of them soon.

What can you sprout? So many things! These are some of my favourites:
Lentils, chickpeas, Beans (kidney/red/black/cranberry/pinto), seeds (sunflower/broccoli/alfalfa), raw nuts (like almonds) grains and the like (wheat berries/quinoa/buckwheat)

How to soak and sprout:

1. Soak. Place in a jar (i usually use about 12 a cup of seeds in a large jam jar) and fill until the water line is 1-2 inches above the seeds. Use water at room temperature! You don't want it too hot such that it kills the seeds or too cold such that soaking and sprouting times become much longer. The soaking time varies for what you soak, but a general rule of thumb is that seeds and small grains require about 4 hours, while beans and lentils need about 8.

2. Rinse well. Again, with water and rom temperature! Place cheesecloth (you could also use a clean unwanted T-shirt or pantyhose) around the mouth of the jar and secure with a rubber band. turn it upside down to try and get the water out.

3. Sprout. Leave each jar in a bowl, resting at a 45 degree angle to ensure water drains out slowly. Every 4 hours, repeat step 2 and 3. You have to do this over several days, until little tails sprout! It also depends on how long you want your sprouts to be, as well as what you are sprouting and the weather. Grains, seeds and lentils take 2/3 days while beans take 4 days.

4. Greening. Place on a windowsill for an hour so that it can photosynthesize!

5. Refrigerate or cook (recipes coming soon!) and then enjoy~