God sprouts the seeds.
This is pretty simple and most of you probably could do this in your sleep. But just in case you’ve never tried this, it’s amazing way to watch God’s handiwork in your own kitchen!
Back in the hippie days, we saw a new interest in homesteading and healthy eating. There was a movement in the 1970’s toward natural childbirth, breastfeeding, gardening and bread making.
And sprouting seeds! I used to do this when I was a young mom.
I had never heard of sprouts as a little kid. But pretty soon people caught on to the idea of putting seeds in water and rinsing them several times daily until God made sprouts. Of course, in those days I thought I sprouted the seeds. Ha!
As I recall, we mostly used alfalfa seeds. I did try this with some wheat berries and I remember them being almost too sweet. I need to try that again!
My young Titus 2 sisters are the ones who recently got me doing it again. It felt so good, and I wondered why I had ever stopped!
Now we are rarely without a little pile of seeds, getting rinsed and growing bigger and bigger until they fill a mason jar. Without the power and kindness of the Lord these hard bits would be nothing but rocks. It’s a wonder what He does with them for our benefit!
These are budget friendly!
I’m still on my first bag two bags of seeds. You can get a ton of nutrition out of them for roughly $12 each.
Okay, get ready for some Amazon links! As I said, this is such a simple process I feel somewhat shy about posting a “how to”!
I get my salad seeds and mung bean seeds on Amazon . (I just put in links to the salad mix and mung beans I use). Im sure there are other great sources but these have done well for me.
They are a really good value for the quantity you can make. It wouldn’t take me long spend that much money on salad stuff at the grocery store!
Here are the mason jar lids and trays I got, also from Amazon. They work really well for me.
Sprouts are very nutrient dense
Just a quick search of the benefits of eating sprouts will support this. Here are a few excerpts from just one article from the American Heart Association:
For example, plant foods contain phytates that bind with minerals such as zinc, iron and magnesium; this prevents those minerals from being absorbed in the body. Humans don’t have the enzymes to break down phytates, but the sprouting process helps release enzymes in the plant to do just that, which allows for minerals to be freely absorbed.
Sprouted seeds and greens have more vitamin C, B vitamins and antioxidants that materialize at higher concentrations.
Sprouts need to be fresh
This is the beauty of sprouting your own. You harvest them, refrigerate them, and eat them right away.
To harvest them, I remove them from their jar and put them in the solid bowl of a salad spinner. Then I fill the bowl with the sprouts in it with filtered water. The little brown or green hulls rise to the surface, and you can scoop them out with a spoon and discard them. The sprouts remain in the water in the bowl.
Once you have most of the hulls removed, gently lift the sprouts out of the water and put them in the colander part of the salad spinner. Many of the hulls will be at the bottom in the water of the solid bowl. Toss the water and hulls that remain, rinse, and nest the colander with sprouts in the solid bowl. Spin them like you would salad.
Remove the sprouts and put them in a plastic or glass container in the refrigerator. For us, they are good for about a week. Your nose should tell you if they need to be tossed.
Instructions and warnings
There are instructions on the bags of sprouts that I linked above from Amazon that involve soaking and rinsing several times daily. The article I quoted above includes the following suggestions and warnings:
The one drawback to eating raw sprouts is that their warm, moist-growing environment is also the perfect medium for bacteria to grow and flourish, including salmonella, listeria and E. coli. Young children, older adults, pregnant women and anyone with a weakened immune system should avoid eating raw or even lightly cooked sprouts of any kind.
To reduce the risk of foodborne illness, () suggested procuring good quality seeds and sanitizing them before sprouting with undiluted vinegar or apple cider vinegar.
I have never sanitized my sprout seeds and never had any problems, but this might be a good idea. Sometimes the sprouts at grocery store smell moldy. I rely on the sniff test and as quickly as we consume them, they have always passed it!
Doing it yourself gives you the benefit of them being very fresh, as long as you follow the directions on the bag and rinse them often. I also find that the little green trays need to be scrubbed in the summer when they get a brownish residue from water that drips from the sprouts into them. Just keep your eyes on them and don’t neglect them!
Sprouts are delicious
They are good on so many things. You can top a salad with them. Substantial sprouts like mung beans can be added to stir fries and soups like Pho. For lunch today I had some hot Edamame noodles with wilted mung bean sprouts, spinach, green onions and chicken, with some shredded Manchego cheese on top. So good.
But my absolute favorite is a home made sourdough bagel sandwich with meat, cheese, mayo, avocado, cucumbers, relish and sprouts. Satisfying beyond words! My stomach is already growling.
Proverbs 31 Homesteading
This is a really good example of us partnering with God, the ruler of the universe, to shepherd His blessings for the good of those we love. We look at our homes, and we ask, “what could this home be for God’s glory?” We declare “Let it be as great as it possibly can be!” We can see the glory of God in a sprouted seed.
When we work so closely with God’s creative power we get assurance that He really does have the whole world in His hands.
If He can do this with little bitty seeds, what can He do in our hearts and the hearts of those we love? Think of how He transforms the heart of stone to a heart of flesh.
We can serve these little beauties with prayer and confidence that God will also bless them as they go in us to the nourishment of our bodies and the bodies of those we love and nurture.
How blessed we are to get to watch the magnificence of a sprouting seed!
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