This week: Sprouting Seeds for Healthy Greens; with a ping to Kartographer for the prep-value of seed sprouting.
(If you would like to be on or off of this weekly cooking thread ping list, please send a private message.)
-JT
Preppers’ PING!!
Hat tip to Jamestown1630 for the heads up!
One more question for the group: anyone use buttermilk powder..like this instead of the real deal when baking? Success..thoughts?
I remember a restaurant with a salad bar that had radish sprouts on it! Ooh, I sure did love them. Pungent and spicy. I would love to make them, I make a lot of salad.
This is such a great weekly thread! Totally enjoying your work.
Lemon desserts can never be lemony enough! When I make lemon bars, I use lemon cookie dough as a base and add extra lemon oil.
Thanks for the sprout advice. Definitely have to try. we really like sprouts.
I’ve grown lots of sprouts, and even had a stand at the farmer’s market selling them one year. They can be simple, but there are a few things to watch out for:
1. Make sure your equipment is CLEAN!
Not just normal dishes-clean, I mean sterile. Hot water and bleach!
2. Look and smell before you eat.
The right environment for sprouts is the same as what’s needed to grow mold. Look closely at the sprouts, do they have lots of hairs when that variety shout only have a single taproot? Is it the color it should be? Smell them, do they smell like they should? After you grow a few batches, you’ll know what they should look like.
3. Don’t overcomplicate.
Rinse them with clean water twice a day, keep them covered but with access to air, but otherwise let them do their thing. I grew dozens of pounds of sprouts in giant foodsafe storage bins. You don’t need specialized equipment. All they need is air, moisture, and time. Anything that will provide that will work.
4. Know what sprouts can be eaten, and what can’t.
General rule: if you can eat both the seed and the plant, you can eat the sprout. Don’t try it with nighshades, do try it with legumes and cruciferous veggies. I have no idea about squash. Sunflower and pea sprouts are a little different, because you’re supposed to plant them in the dirt and then cut off the top to eat.
And, if you’re looking at this as a prepping thing:
5. Choose something that provides lots of seeds per plant without cutting into your food supply, and is easy to harvest the seeds from.
I probably wouldn’t grow alphalpha for sprouts, because it would be hard for me to harvest enough seed to be worthwhile. On the other hand, I once grew a radish that produced so many seed pods that each plant looked like a porcupine and was big enough to take over the garden. If I wanted sprouts, I’d look for a plant like that.