Growing Food

Most plants produce nuts, seeds, grains or beans from which they can be sprouted and grown. Many plants can also be propagated from starts such as roots, cuttings, divisions, bulbs, corms, rhizomes, offsets or runners. Plants can be grown indoors or out using earth, water or air as the growing medium, but germination and sprouting is often the first step in home gardening unless growing from starts. (Water, humidity, nutrient, PH, light and other detailed growing instructions are usually available from seed stores, nurseries, or wherever seeds or starts are purchased).

Germination and Sprouting

Nutrients which are naturally dormant in nuts, seeds, beans and grains are activated and multiplied by sprouting. Sprouts are at a stage of growth with the highest concentration of nutrients than at any other time in the life of a plant, providing more nutrients per calorie than any other food. Sprouting increases the vitamin, protein and enzyme content of raw foods by as much as 500% or more, and even if their embryo or mature counterparts do not contain Vitamin C, the sprouting process will produce it. Nutritional values continue to increase for up to several days even after they are harvested, and nutrients are broken down into their simplest forms (i.e., starches are converted into simple sugars, crude fats are broken down into free fatty acids, proteins are broken down into amino acids and peptones, etc.). Sprouts also yield up to ten times their own dry weight (reducing the required storage space), they can be grown anywhere, all year long (if indoors), and most sprouts take only a week or less to grow.

The sprouting process begins with germination (i.e., soaking in water). Put nuts, seeds, grains, beans or legumes in a jar or bowl and cover with water. Place out of direct sunlight at room temperature and soak 5-12 hours, then pour off the water and rinse well. Next fill a jar or sprout bag no more than 1/4 of the way full with germinated seeds (or whatever is being sprouted); put in a cool place in indirect sunlight to increase chlorophyll production. Soak, rinse and drain three times daily until two leaves develop and the hulls or shells have dropped off. Once most of the sprouts have done this, they are ready to use. If allowed to continue growing grasses result, which are usually harvested at about 8-10", and are just as nutritious and beneficial (sometimes more so) as sprouts. For consumption purposes, refrigerate and store sprouts in a plastic bag with paper towels to absorb any excess moisture. To extend storage time from several days to several weeks, rinse and drain the sprouts every few days (although the sooner sprouts are used the better).

Sprouting Tips

Sprouting is fairly simple to do, but if for some reason you still find it to be difficult or are unsuccessful, it may be due to a lack of air, stagnant water or not rinsing enough. If seeds (or whatever is being sprouted) sour before they sprout, it is likely due to being soaked too long during germination, or not being drained well enough during sprouting. Aside from reasons such as this, sprouting should not prove difficult for even the blackest of thumbs.

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