By Heather Nicholds
Alfalfa sprouts are one of the easiest ways to get fresh greens and tons of nutrition. They’re also really inexpensive plus you can grow your own!
I filmed a video about how to grow them yourself a couple of years ago, and I always get lots of comments and questions so I thought I’d talk about sprouts a bit more.
First of all, sprouts are tiny little powerhouses of nutrition. They have tons of antioxidants, lots of vitamins (especially C and K) and minerals (particularly calcium and iron) and are 42% protein by calories.
Now, you’d have to eat a huge amount of sprouts to get a significant amount of protein in grams, but if you’re looking to increase the percentage of protein relative to carbs and fat in your diet, sprouts are a good food to get more of.
I went over how to grow sprouts in my other video (linked above), but wanted to mention a few things.
You can buy sprouts in the store, which is great if you don’t have time to grow your own. Just take a look at the bottom to see if there are any bad bits.
Pull those bits out if you wind up with some, and I like to give my store-bought sprouts a little rinse and then store them in a container with drainage.
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I love my sprouting jars for drainage. Having two sprouting jars means that you can start your next batch as you’re eating the first, since it takes 4 days to get to the point where you can eat your sprouts.
If it’s hot and humid, like in the summer, it can be really helpful to keep your sprouts in the fridge to prevent them from going bad. Keep rinsing them if they’re in the fridge.
You can buy seeds in bulk online (I like Mumm’s) or in smaller bags in your grocery or health food store. It’s good if you can keep your sprouting seeds in the fridge.
There are lots of different kinds of seeds you can sprout. I like alfalfa and red clover because they have a mild flavor. Broccoli and radish get very spicy so be prepared.
You can also sprout lentils (and other beans and grains). I like to steam them after sprouting and before eating because I don’t digest them well otherwise.
Later this week, I’ll post a recipe for a salad using sprouts. I also like putting them in wraps, on top of stir fries, in smoothies and frozen banana ice cream. I even put them on top of pizza.
Do you like sprouts? What’s your favorite way to have them? Let me know below 🙂
