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Have you ever tried to grow sprouts at home? It’s super easy, and just takes a few minutes of hands-on time. It also is a huge savings over buying sprouts in the store, not to mention a fresher option. How many times have you gone to the store to buy sprouts, only to find out that they don’t have them because of a salmonella outbreak or other scary ER trip risk? No, thanks.
Today I’m going to show you how easy it is to grow sprouts at home, while saving some serious cash money at the same time. Who doesn’t like that? No one.
In this tutorial, we’re going to focus on the most common sprouts, the great Alfalfa. But you can sprout pretty much any seed you want, and at the end of this post I’ve shared some great seed samplers so you can try out several and find your favorites. The steps for sprouting are so easy, anyone can do it.
Grow Sprouts Instructions
1) Soak 1-2 T. of sprouting seeds for at least 8 hours in fresh, cool water in a wide mouth mason jar.
2) Drain and rinse the sprouts.
3) Repeat Step 2 for 3-5 days, until your sprouts are ready to eat!
Sprouting seeds are all different sizes, but alfalfa are particularly tiny, so you need a sprouting jar lid with very small holes, like the green one above. At the end of this post I’ve linked to a jar sprouter that comes with three different lids depending on the size of seeds you are sprouting.
Do you really need to use that much water to soak 1 tablespoon of seeds, Beth?
Nope. Just make sure they’re covered by a couple of inches. Apparently I’m a water waster, good thing I don’t live in California!
Day 1 starts after the seeds have been soaked and drained. Can you believe how quickly they start to sprout? It’s like magic!
Now we’re getting somewhere. By the way, this is a GREAT project to do with kids, because they can see the growth happen so quickly. And they are much more likely to eat sprouts if they have been part of helping them grow!
And, we’re done. The hardest part about getting to Day 5 is remembering to rinse and drain the sprouts every day. I highly recommend setting reminders on your phone. Or do what my mom does and move one of your rings to your other hand every day. Whatever works! 🙂
Once the sprouts are done growing, it’s time to de-hull. This process is super easy and kind of fun too. All you need to do is submerge the sprouts in some fresh cool water, then push the sprouts down with your hand and the hulls will rise to the top of the water. Pour off the water and the hulls until most of the hulls are gone (you don’t have to get all of them). It might take a couple of changes of water to get most of them. This is another thing that is fun to do with kiddos, if they are around. 🙂
To store the sprouts, drain them very well, the place them in the fridge in a lidded container lined with paper towels. They will keep for at least a week, but once you’ve tried fresh sprouts they probably won’t last that long! And once your batch is done, it’s the perfect time to start another!
So what do you think? Looks pretty easy, doesn’t it? That’s because IT IS. And it will only take a few batches to make your money back. Once you try this, you will never buy slimy, old, questionable sprouts at the grocery store ever again.
So how do you get sproutin’? Here’s everything you need!
Sprouting Supplies
Jar Sprouter
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[earnist ref=”sproutingseeds6pack” id=”5245″]
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How to Grow Sprouts at Home
Beth Hornback
Once you see how easy and affordable it is to grow sprouts at home, you’ll never buy them at the grocery store again!
4.95 from 18 votes
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes mins
Cook Time 18 hours hrs 24 minutes mins
Total Time 18 hours hrs 24 minutes mins
Course DIY, Tutorial
Cuisine American
Servings 2 -3 cups
Ingredients
- 1-2 Tablespoons sprouting seeds (such as Alfalfa, Broccoli, or Radish)
- 1 Quart Wide Mouth Size Mason Jar
- 1 Sprouting Lid fitted for Wide Mouth jars (use the one with the smallest holes)
Instructions
Cover the sprouting seeds with fresh, cool water in the mason jar and let soak for at least 8 hours or overnight.
Drain and rinse the sprouts by pouring fresh, cool water through the holes in the sprouting lid. Drain again until most of the water is poured out.
Repeat the rinsing and draining process at least two times per day for 3-5 days, or until the sprouts have grown to your liking.
Remove the sprouts from the jar and immerse in a bowl filled with fresh, cool water.
Push the sprouts down to the bottom of the bowl and let the seed hulls rise to the top.
Pour off the hulls, and rinse again if necessary.
Drain the sprouts thoroughly and store in the fridge in a lidded container lined with paper towel. The sprouts will keep fresh for at least a week.
Keyword how to grow sprouts, sprouts
