Grow Your Own Sprouts as a Healthy, Fun Hobby
It’s February and a whole new year. We’ve all got resolutions and goals for becoming better versions of ourselves over the next months. One of the best places to start is your diet. Even if you already have a fairly healthy, whole-food way of eating, there are always extra goodies you can add to your daily meals to give your immune system a boost and to help support digestion. Growing your own sprouts and shoots is a great way to start 2023!
If you haven’t added sprouts to your list of favorite health foods yet, now is the time to start! This power food is a type of vegetable—it’s actually the germinated seed grown in a warm, humid environment. Therefore, there are plenty of types of sprouts, including:
- Bean sprouts (e.g., mung, kidney, black)
- Pea sprouts (e.g., lentils and snow peas)
- Vegetable sprouts (e.g., broccoli, alfalfa, mustard green, red clover)
- Nut and seed sprouts (e.g., pumpkin, sesame, sunflower)
Benefits of Eating Sprouts
So, why are sprouts so nutritious? What makes eating sprouts any different than eating the vegetable, bean, pea, or nut itself? Well, they are just as packed with vitamins and minerals as their parent food as well as being a great source of antioxidants. Sprouts are a low-calorie food in addition to carrying extra nutrients like vitamin B, phosphorous, and magnesium.
Adding sprouts to your soups, sandwiches, and salads also helps bring variety to a healthy diet. Many people like to get creative and add sprouts to things like eggs, green smoothies, and dips or even eat them on their own! Sure, you should be adding the parent foods, too, but sprouts are a great way to bring some texture or a different flavor than your traditional veggies.
Plus, eating something that you’ve grown in your own home gives you a sense of joy and pride that doesn’t compare to anything you can buy from the store.
How to Eat Sprouts Safely
Some types of sprouts can carry foodborne illnesses, though, such as salmonella and E. coli. The warm, wet environment in which they’re grown can lead to bacterial growth if the farmer isn’t careful. Particularly, if the farm also has animals the seeds could be cross-contaminated with animal waste from shared water sources.
Most people enjoy eating sprouts raw, too, so this doesn’t allow for bacteria to be cooked off. Cooking them does reduce this risk, although it can also reduce some of the nutritional benefits.
Basic Sprout Growing Tips and Tricks for Growing Your Own
Growing sprouts is a bit different than planting a fruit orchard or a pumpkin patch. Some people like to start with a few different types of sprouts to see which ones work best in their home and what they enjoy eating the best. The following sprout-growing kits are ones that Stoney Creek Farm has tried and found to be both fun and successful.
Kenley Seed Sprouting Kit
Who wouldn’t love a seed sprouting kit that uses Mason jars? This kit comes with three jars, lids, stands, screens, and trays so that you can properly drain and ventilate the seeds while you watch them grow.
Simply choose your favorite veggie, bean, or pea seeds and soak them overnight in the jar. Then, all you have to do is rinse your seeds each day. The stainless-steel jar lids are rust-resistant and they drain beautifully, so your seeds will have the perfect environment to grow. Plus, you can just put the jars into the dishwasher once you’ve collected your sprouts before you grow your next batch!
These screens are prone to oxidation, so be sure to clean them well after each use.
Masontops Complete Bean Sprouting Kit
We love this kit because it comes with not only all the sprouting supplies (Mason jars, screens, and lids) but the seeds, too! This kit makes it so easy to germinate your sprouts. The sprouting lid screens mean that your sprouts will get enough airflow to ensure successful germination.
All you have to do once you get your kit is put the included organic, GMO-free seeds into the jars and cover them with the screen lid! Not only are the supplies dishwasher safe, but the lids can be used on any wide-mouth Mason jar if you want to sprout in an even bigger (or smaller) container.
This kit includes a wide variety of seeds, including:
- Alfalfa
- Chickpeas
- Clover
- Mustard
- Peas
- Radishes
This means that you’ll have plenty of tasty sprouts to add to soups, sandwiches, salads, or just to eat on their own! The holes on these lids need a bit of draining help, though, so just turn them often to make sure that all your rinsing water gets out completely.
WADEO Seed Sprouter Trays
Every seed-sprouting pro loves being able to see their sprouts in action! This seed sprouting kit is unique because it comes with four leveled trays (on wheels, no less!) that allow you to enjoy the full beauty of your four mini sprout crops.
The tray design in this kit means that your seeds will have a prime amount of airflow. Since it’s on wheels, you can move it around your kitchen or house for the best light, too.
This kit comes with fun extras, as well, such as planting paper and a watering can. Simply choose your seed sprouts and follow the easy, included instructions. (Note that depending on the type of sprouts you choose, you might need an additional base soil.) Then, watch your sprouts grow quickly so you can add them to every meal!
