Greetings fellow food lovers. First of all thank you for all the love and support you guys have been giving me in the past weeks, months and years.

I also wanna give special thanks to Hive account@curie who is doing an excellent job at supporting the steemit community. The other day they picked one of my posts as exceptional content and of course, I feel very honored.

Since I got so many responses on that post and it inspired so many people to take up sprouting.... today's post is all about that.

And what a better way than to dedicate this post to the wonderful initiative #fruitsandveggiesmonday, made possible thanks to Hive account@lenasveganliving and Hive account@plantstoplanks.

Why spouting

Sprouts are not only super delicious, but they are also one of the most amazing nutrient-dense foods on our planet. Furthermore, they are easy to grow and don't take up any space. No garden needed. We will come back to the how in just a sec.

Compared to most veggies, sprouts contain up to 30 times more nutrients, adding much-needed vitamins, minerals, proteins, fiber, amino acids, and oxygen.

Furthermore, seeds, beans, grains, and legumes contain phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors in their outer layer to protect them from being eaten. Therefore many people are experiencing digestive difficulties or issues when they consume these type of foods. However, when soaked, fermented or sprouted, these compounds or anti-nutrients will mostly be neutralized.

In addition, when sprouting beans, grains, seeds or legumes many beneficial phytonutrients are produced and gluten or other not-so-easy-to-digest proteins are broken down to make them easier to digest.

Step-by-step Microgreen Sprouting Tutorial

Most seeds, legumes, pulses, grains, and some nuts can be sprouted.

Though you can buy fancy sprouting systems online, a jar with a lid and a few holes is the cheap and easy option to start sprouting your microgreens.

1. Picking the bean, seed, or grain (mixes are possible too)

Whichever seeds, beans or grains you pick, most of them use the same sprouting process. For this tutorial, I used mung beans because they are easy to source and cheap where we live.

Other examples you can use:

Adzuki beans
Broccoli seeds
Buckwheat
Red/green lentils
Chickpeas
Green beans
Fenugreek seeds
Quinoa
Buckwheat
Alfalfa seeds

Soaking, rinsing and sprouting times:

Though this might give you an idea of normal sprouting time, they will depend on the climate you live. Here in Cambodia we enjoy a tropical humid climate which makes sprouting go super fast.

– Adzuki beans (12 h / 3-4 days)
– Mung beans (8-12 h /3 days)
– Buckwheat (3 h / 1 day)
– Quinoa (3 h / 1 day)
– Alfa Alfa (5 h / 5-6 day)
– Fenugreek (6 h /3-4 days)
– Chickpea (12 h / 3 days)
– Lentils (8 h / 3 days)
– Broccoli seeds (5 h / 5-6 day)

2. Gather the materials

To make things easier, take the lid of your sprouting jar and make a few holes in it. Rinse the jar thoroughly with hot water. Sprouts can take become 10 to 15 tile their volume so make sure to not add too many dries seeds, beans or grains to the jar. To give you an idea I used a 32-ounce jar and filled it with 1/4 to 1/2 cup dried mung beans. This fills the jar to the brim with sprouts.

Thoroughly rinse seeds, grains, legumes with water.

3. Soaking

Put the seeds, grains, legumes, or beans in the clean jar and add FILTERED water at room temperature. Take 3 times more water than the seeds, grains, legumes or beans. For even better results, soak them in lukewarm water (40°C or 104°F).

4. Let them rest in a dark place

After the appropriate soaking time, which is different for every type of seed, grain or legume (see above), drain water and rinse them with filtered water. Put them back into the jar without any water. They can still be damp, no need to dry with a towel. Put the jar in a closet or somewhere dark for 24 hours.

Make sure to pick a spot that is not too cold. Also, don't close the jar with the lid, cover it with a cloth or coffee filter, using a rubber band to hold it in place.

5. After 24 hours dark

As said, we live in a humid and tropical climate, so sprouting goes super fast here. You will have to keep an eye on yours as it may not look quite the same after just one day. No stress; Give them the time they need. You'll just have to rinse a day or two more.

6. Rinsing process

After getting there needed hours in the dark, rinse the sprouts with filtered water every 8 hours or at least twice a day. Use the lid with holes to easily drain the water. No need to put them back in the dark, just leave them on the counter in a warm spot, but NO direct sunlight!

After a few day(s) the sprouts will be ready for harvest. When ready, simply screw the lid on and store in the fridge to stop the sprouting process.