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GROWING YOUR OWN SPROUTS

By growing your own sprouts you will save yourself a ton of money. It is a lot cheaper to buy the sprout seeds, grow and harvest the sprouts rather than buying them from your local grocery store. Growing your own sprouts will also allow you to enjoy them when they are at their absolute freshest and tastiest. Imagine the simple pleasure of grabbing a handful of these beauties from their growing container, rinsing them and then gobbling them up! It's fantastic! Because home grown spouts are fresher, they contain higher levels of nutrients. By growing your own sprouts you choose which varieties of sprouts you add to your diet. You're not limited to what's just available at your local market. I heard someone say once that sprouts are the fast food of gardening and that's true and that funny fact stuck with me.


FOOD POISONING AND SPROUTS

There have been many news stories regarding salmonella and or e-coli contamination in sprouts. These have been combined with warnings from the FDA that sprouts could be contaminated with food poisoning bacteria and advising the very old, the very young, and those with compromised immune systems to avoid raw sprouts. So it's no wonder folks are afraid to try sprouts let alone understand all the amazing health benefits they hold. Who knows for sure why or how those sprouts became contaminated. I just say all the more reason to sprout your own! You know exactly where the seeds came from what's going into them and how they are being handled.

WHAT CAN YOU DO TO BE EXTRA SAFE?

Use certified organic seeds. Organic certification assures that seeds have been grown and handled in a manner that helps minimize possible sources of contamination. Manure used on organic fields, for example, must be composted for a long period. Composting has been shown to reduce or eliminate pathogens in manure. Organic farmers are also required to use rodent- and bird-proof storage for seeds to be used for human consumption. Make sure that any seeds you buy have been handled as a food crop and not a farm planting seed crop. Find this information out before you buy.

Seeds that have been in contact with animals or animal waste could be contaminated with salmonella or e-coli, leading to food poisoning. Reputable sprouting seed suppliers test all lots of seeds for contamination.

Treat sprouts and foods containing sprouts as you would any nutritious food - refrigerate them until used.

Be sure to check Splendor In The Raw's NEWS tab next Thursday, when I'll present Part 3 of our Fall Sprouting Series.


 

I believe that sprouts are so important to a healthy lifestyle that I'm going to devote four weeks of news articles to talking about 1) Why we should eat them, 2) Why we should grow them ourselves, 3) What we can sprout, and, drum roll, 4) How to sprout!  So, here's Part 1 of the Fall Sprouting Series - Why Sprouts?

If eating raw foods has you wondering if you can afford it - wait till you hear how inexpensive and simple it is to grow abundant amounts of your own food, indoors, all year around... for pennies a pound!  Growing your own sprouts is one way to get nutritious, and inexpensive, fresh, organic foods year 'round.  Why sprouts?  Read on...

There are so many reasons to eat fresh sprouts that I can't even begin to count them all.  Sprouts are always a delicious, fresh, colorful, organic and healthy addition to any food - whether you are eating a salad, sandwich or a super gourmet meal. Sprouts are a perfect match! They contain essential vitamins, minerals, proteins, and enzymes - all necessary and vital for the body to function optimally. In addition to providing the greatest amount of these nutrients, sprouts deliver them in a form that is easily digested and assimilated. In fact, they actually improve the efficiency of digestion. Sprouts supply the highest amount of vitamins, minerals and enzymes of any food per unit of calorie! Sprouts nourish and strengthen the whole body, including the vital immune system.  Sprouts are so inexpensive (even when organic) they are always fresh (they grow until you chew them) and I also believe that they  have the potential to help solve hunger and malnutrition problems in our communities and in developing countries. Because sprouts are so rich in nutrients, affordable, and easy to transport as seeds prior to sprouting, world hunger could truly be a thing of the past. Sprouts are always abundant, especially important in the winter when the quality of fresh fruits and vegetables are declining and their prices are increasing.
 
A lot of us depend on fresh produce that is transported across half a continent. True, we may garden in the summer or shop our local farmer's markets, but winter stops all but the most dedicated, or most southern, gardeners and small farms. By sprouting at home, we can supply delicious, healthy, fresh food to ourselves and our families - without the environmental drawbacks of large corporation farm raised produce - at a fraction of the cost.
 
Sprouting at home takes only a few minutes a day and can produce a good part of your daily nutritional requirements.  Because they're grown right in your kitchen counter/garden, they have not been in cold storage, or on supermarket shelves, losing valuable nutrients. If you can supply a glass jar, some screen or netting (hosiery, stockings or cheesecloth works well too), rinse the sprouts twice a day, you can grow delicious organic sprouts in 4 to 6 days.
 
As you become accustomed to eating sprouts, you'll eat more sprouts! Many people find that as they increase sprouts in their diet, they eat fewer unhealthy foods. Since the body is receiving a healthy dose of nutrients, the brain lessens the body's craving for excessive (and unhealthy) eating. Sprouts generally are associated with healthy weight loss.  Try sprouting a variety of seeds and harvest them at different stages to determine which you and your family members like best. You'll discover delightful ways to incorporate them into your meals. There are dozens of amazingly tasty sproutable seeds with different flavors, shapes, and textures.  The opportunities to add them to salads, sandwiches and other delectable raw dishes become endless.
 
Sprouting takes barely any time at all to do - if you can squeeze a five minute daily commitment to sprouting into your busy lifestyle, you will always have a fresh supply of organic produce at hand.

Be sure to check Splendor In The Raw's NEWS tab next Thursday, when I'll present Part 2 of our Fall Sprouting Series - Why We Should Grow Sprouts Ourselves!  Bye for now!