March grocery-store tomatoes suck out the very last bit of happiness in my soul.
To stem off the winter doldrums, we grew sprouts for the first time! In just 5 days, we turned 2 tablespoons of seeds into over 3 cups of sprouts!
Sprouts are like real-life Farmville. You check them twice a day, ignore them a bit & magically harvest them on day 5.
It’s so cheap to grow sprouts, I purchased a 3-tiered plastic sprouter at a thrift store for $1. It is on Amazon for just $13. Or there’s the “jar-method,” which only requires a glass jar, a jar ring & a piece of mesh or cheese cloth.
We bought radish seeds for sprouting (seeds for planting are often coated with things that are good for putting in the ground, but not your mouth) for $6/pound. I also purchased wheat grass for sprouting from the bulk aisle at our grocery store for $2/pound.
Radish sprouts have a mild kick to them like full grown radishes!
It is important to rinse your sprouts at least twice a day. It’s a fairly perfect environment for growing bacteria, so rinse your sprouts & make sure the water drains. On that note, from what I can tell, food-poisoning from sprouts seems to not be a huge worry for at home sprouting. Check your seeds to make sure they are free of weirdness, buy them from people who handled them well, rinse them before you start them & maintain a clean sprouting environment. The FDA does suggest you cook all sprouts fully (???) & specifically mentions mung beans.
Your kids will start to see action nearly immediately on day two (24 hours):
Sprouts: 24 hours
Embryonic root tips (radicles) emerging
On day three (48 hours), things are really starting to happen:
On day four, you can identify more parts of the seed/plant:
You may notice that your sprouts are growing weird body hair. It’s okay, it’s natural! It’s not mold if it’s only on the plants embryonic stem (hypocotyl). These are root hairs & would grow into roots, if you weren’t going to eat them! They are no indication of mold.
Root hairs growing on sprouts. These are GOOD!
Indications of mold would be a rank odor, cloudy water & patchy spots on the sprouts. Or the sprouts turning mushy or brown. Toss those!
Day five is your harvest day for many sprouts! Your sprouts have now grown from 2 tablespoons of seeds into 2-4 cups of sprouts!
Your sprouts will appear to have two leaves, these are the cotyledon, which means “seed leaf.” You may have noticed that I take advantage of every opportunity for a science lesson. Sprouting is a great homeschool project!
Sprouts ready for harvest.
Time to figure out how you want to eat your sprouts. We had pitas!
The kids had grocery store tomatoes on theirs. I just couldn’t bear it.
I encourage you to try sprouting with your kids this month! It’s a fantastic way to put some green in your day while you wait for spring.
Do you have a favorite kind of sprout? Are you worried about food poisoning & sprouts? And what is YOUR favorite way to eat sprouts? I need ideas, I’m foreseeing a LOT of sprouts in my future!
We used to make alfalfa sprouts all the time as a kid. we used the jar and cloth method. Unfortunately I hate the taste of them but my mom happily piled them into all our sandwiches for YEARS.
I am totally going to do this! How much fun! I am boring, I just like sprouts on sandwiches and whatnot. I don’t even have a favourite kind, I’ve never heard of radish sprouts. Apparently I’m living a sheltered life.
We bought a lot of seeds so the kids could learn about plants and soil, but I never thought about growing sprouts! I love sprouts! We will definitely add this to our plant growing list.
I am an inadequate parent. My poor children only ever grew broad beans down the side of a jam jar and kitchen towel and cress seeds out the top of a potato – a kind of organic toy story character!
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Way cool. But having to make sure my seeds are free of weirdness? I worry they’d be lonely, since nothing else in this house is.
lol But boy do we recognize weird when we see it!
That’s so cool. Alas I am allergic to sprouts. On account of my being v. delicate. It is my cross to bear.
I love sprouts!! The healthy pita sandwiches look good!
Ah, but can you unwilt them after you forget them for another week?