How to sprout?

What you need

  • 1 wide-mouthed one-litre glass jar.
  • 1 piece of mesh or mosquito netting
  • 1 rubber band (the kind that comes round leeks or chard)
  • Well-rinsed seeds (lentil, sunflower, pumpkin, wheat, amaranth, alfalfa, chickpea, etc.)
  • Water.

Method

How to make your sprouts

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Rinse the seeds and put them in the jar with water, three times their volume. Cover the mouth of the jar with mesh — mosquito netting from any hardware shop works fine.

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Leave the jar somewhere dark and warm. Alfalfa and quinoa need 8 hours at most — watch that they don’t drown.

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Then drain the water off — the mesh keeps the seeds in — and rinse them well.

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Spread the seeds along the wall of the jar by laying it on its side and tilting it carefully, so they don’t block the airflow into the jar. Rinse them two or three times a day for the first few days — especially in summer — and once a day after that.

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When the shoots are 2 to 3 centimetres long, give them indirect sunlight so the little leaves turn green — that is, so they form chlorophyll. This raises their vitamin C and gives them a nicer flavour.

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Keep draining and rinsing them once or twice a day for 4 to 6 days. Once they are ready you can put them in the fridge to stop the sprouting.
* In summer, rinse them twice a day.
* In winter, once a day is enough.

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You’ll know the sprouts are ready mainly when leaves start to form — that’s the moment to put them in the sun to make chlorophyll. It usually takes around 4 days, depending on the seed…

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If you want to remove the seed husks before eating the sprouts, put them in a bowl of water: the husks float to the surface where you can collect them, while the sprouts sink to the bottom.

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