How to sprout seeds

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Tengu

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Jan 10, 2006
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Something new to me...but I do love things like cress and beansprouts!

And I have a jam jar!

How do I do it? Is there an online guide thats not complex?
 
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Toddy

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Jan 21, 2005
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Not sure about online guides, but it's simplicity itself to do.

Put a tablespoonful of seeds at the bottom of the jamjar and cover them with lukewarm water. Set it aside for an hour or so.
Meanwhile find something you can use to stretch or fix over the top of the jar to act as a sieve.
A bit of tshirt will do if that's what you have, one of the sink cloths does too, I used a bit of net curtain at first. I fixed it on using an elastic band.

Don't pour icy cold water onto your seeds, don't go too hot either, just take the chill off the water.

I rinse and gently swish mine with fresh water every time I pass the sink, but so long as they don't sit sodden wet and drown and don't dry out, they'll sprout :) Some folks manage with just a couple of rinses a day. I admit mine get more, but I'm at home, so it's easy. Rinse with clean water and set the jar so that it drains towards the opening. You can just lay it on it's side on the draining bit beside the sink and it'll do fine.

Best of luck with it :) I like the sprouts, they're a good addition to the diet, excellent in a piece and really nice with saladings, or good to munch just like a wee bowl of nuts.

M
 

oldtimer

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Sep 27, 2005
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There was a time when we kept a jar of bean sprouts on the go but we haven't done it for years. A large Kilner jar provided enough to add to salads and stir fries for four for a week. I remember that we used mung beans for this. Tengu's post is timely as the corona crisis is likely to give rise to vegetable shortages and any way to minimise trips to the supermarket to supplement our garden produce will be welcome.

Are there other bean/seed varieties that could be used?

Another lost on-going kitchen shelf resident was a jar of yoghurt culture which kept us going on left-over milk. We got lazy with the ready availability of supermarket yoghurt and it died. The culture we used had been passed round Cambridge back in the 1980s: we all had one on the go then, but I haven't seen a yoghurt plant for years.
 

Toddy

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Yoghurt's easy. You can buy a dried powder starter kit (Lakeland for instance) but if you can get hold of a pot of 'live' yoghurt then use some of that to kick start your own culture again. I have an electric yoghurt maker that makes 6 little jars, they're a little bigger than baby food jars, so a good sort of a one size portions. Sometimes I think the one pot method was a lot simpler, but this is tidy and stops/starts easily.
I make kefir too (I have frozen grains if you want to make your own, I'll defrost and start it growing and happily send you some of the new grown ones, though you'll probably have offers from folks nearby) and strained kefir is very much like old fashioned yoghurt. Just stir it through a sieve and save the grains to use again. It can get very gloopy though. Excellent for baking stuff like pancakes or quick breads and sponges. Himself dilutes it down with fresh milk and drinks it like that. Awfully good with curry he says. I can't digest milk properly so it's a no go for me. I just make the stuff, and bake with it.
I get a batch of kefir water every so often from it, and I manage that though. Janne said the grains survive fine in just plain water in the fridge for a few days, and he was right, and that water is good for you when you strain out the grains to re-start the keffir.

M
 

Woody girl

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I'm doing mustard and cress, but I'm nearly out of cress seeds and nobody sells them localy. Plenty of mustard seed though.
Also doing pea shoots in an inch of soil in a marginine tub.
Cut and come again lettuce can be grown indoors and kept in a small container. I'm using a cut down 5 litre water container. I'll post a photo later.
Radishes are also easy in shallow containers and I also do beetroot which are used for just the leaves in a salad. Proper beets are grow in the raised beds.
 
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Woody girl

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This is the link I posted on the Shopping thread.
It shows the very available range of sprouting seeds available, but check your pantry too :)


http://www.jungleseeds.co.uk/contents/en-uk/d51.html

Trouble is I don't order online! I've tried and I can get my stupid head round the process. If I need to order it get a friend to do it ... but she moved away last weekend and I don't have her phone number. Never needed it before as we just popped across the road, so it didn't cross our minds! Duh!
So I'm a bit up the sprout now:) :) :)
Just noticed that they have a phone number so gave them a call. Only got the answerphone, so waiting a call back.
 
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Toddy

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Can you set up a Paypal account? because that makes life really easy to use eBay and the like. There are masses of sprouting seeds available, and if you know you're going to do it as a constant thing, it's much cheaper to buy in larger quantities.
Breaks down to just a few pennies a day, but buying a lot upfront isn't cheap. That site does offer variety type packs though, which is excellent :)

If you have bird food that's 'live' sow some where the birds won't get to it, and by Summer you can harvest your own wheat, oats, barley, etc.,
Those grains will sprout for you and will be safe to eat :)
I found that some packs of dried peas will also sprout and sprouted peas really are a tasty munch. I think I paid 50p for a box a few weeks ago in the supermarket, but Hodmedod's sell assorted British ones.

https://hodmedods.co.uk/collections/peas

M
 

Woody girl

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Yes I use the supermarket dried peas. Much cheaper and not coated in anything nasty!
I realy can't be bothered to set up PayPal or anything. I'm such a dunce when it comes to computers. I just don't get it. I struggle to update my phone and have to have help.!
I'm one of the luddites!
 

Toddy

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Oh me too :)
I have three technical reference manuals that I prize. Husband, Son1 and Son2 :D
Of the three, Son2 is the the one who actually makes sure that I understand what the other two whizzed through at a great rate of knots. Forum Admins are lovely lads, they really are goodjob

All joking aside though, if you have bank cards, and those are pretty much ubiquitous nowadays, then Paypal is among the easier options to use to buy online.
It costs the seller but it gives the buyer insurance that you will get what you bought or you'll get your money back.

M
 
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Woody girl

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Oh me too :)
I have three technical reference manuals that I prize. Husband, Son1 and Son2 :D
Of the three, Son2 is the the one who actually makes sure that I understand what the other two whizzed through at a great rate of knots. Forum Admins are lovely lads, they really are goodjob

All joking aside though, if you have bank cards, and those are pretty much ubiquitous nowadays, then Paypal is among the easier options to use to buy online.
It costs the seller but it gives the buyer insurance that you will get what you bought or you'll get your money back.

M

Lucky you. ! Unfortunately both my tech experts my son and parter are no longer around due to a car accident and a stroke, so I've been left trying to get my head around stuff I just can't cope with.
My daughter lives too far away and is constantly busy with life and coping trying to make ends meet for her family so I don't like to ask her.
It's getting increasingly difficult living in a rural location in an increasingly on line world. But I usualy get there in the end somehow. It often takes time but I'm not in a rush nowadays. Too much instantaneous gratification nowadays anyway.! :)
 

Toddy

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Jan 21, 2005
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There is that. It's tempting to buy when it's so easily done too.
On t'other hand it's made it simple for many to stock up without having to go out the door.
Personally I like the range of choice that it gives me.

M
 

Robson Valley

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Nov 24, 2014
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McBride, BC
Most garden seed supply companies here have realized the market for bulk seed sprouting foods.
I like the multi-mixes. They all seem to come to life at about the same time.
Using plain water as soakings then repeated rinsings over some days, it does not get much easier.
I tend to my little charges as the kettle boils in the mornings.

About an inch of radish seedlings in a salami on rye sandwich ups the quality of a soup lunch.
 

Nice65

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Woody girl

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Sprouted chicken peas are a great favourite of mine. Sadly I never thought to get any dried ones to sprout.
Will tinned ones work???? :) :)
I do have a lot of chai seeds and going to try them. They are supposed to be grown on a damp terracotta dish. I don't have that but I'm going to try in a glass bowl.
If you allow them to get too wet you just get a sticky gel. So you just need to spray them with minimal water. A damp environment rather than a wet one as you use for most sprouting seeds.
Never done chai but I'll give it a go.
 

Woody girl

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Just rang my local grocer who does lother of dried fruit and nuts lentils etc aswell as fresh veg. Bless his heart has offered to get me some packets of mung beans and dried chick peas by next Thursday. What a trooper! Will even deliver to my door along with milk. Some people deserve a medal!
 

Robson Valley

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Here's what I do at atleast +25C. One tablespoon mung bean seed in a clean 1-liter jar with a screen mesh top.
Add 3-4" warm water and stand for 2-3 hours. Drain before the seeds drown. Repeat in 12 hours.
Just as soon as I see the beans begin to sprout, they get warm water rinses, no more soakings.

You might want to keep all the jars in a box with the lid shut to keep them etiolated.
At this crappy time of year, I'm desperate to see anything green and growing.

I have 4 jars that I start 3 days apart = steady supply.
Then I get tired of the sprout taste so everything gets a hard machine wash.
Next, I might do the same but with a seed mix sold for sprouting.
 

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