How to Sprout Your Own Beans

HOW TO SPROUT YOUR OWN BEANS

If you're new to eating sprouts, don't make too much at first. Once you get the hang of it, you can start another jar three days after you start the first jar. The next jars will be ready after you finish eating the first batch.

The most important point: when you strain beans or seeds, make sure that they're really strained. Strain it well. Sprouting is remarkable; all you need are the beans or seeds and water. But add too much water and the seeds may rot. Nevertheless, it's pretty difficult to make the seeds rot, as long as you follow the steps carefully and with little patience.

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MUNG BEANS – ½ cups mung beans (makes about 6 cups of mung sprouts)

Pick up the good mung beans and discard any broken ones. Clean and rinse in lukewarm water. Soak the beans in a bowl with 3 cups of lukewarm water, cover it and let it soak for about 8 hours or overnight.

Rinse the beans in water again and put them in a plastic bag or better a colander or sieve. Cover the opening with a doubled or tripled dampened dishcloth. I used the cotton sack of wheat flour. Place the bowl in a dark and possible humid place. Some used the area under their sink or utility cabinets. Every 4 or 5 hours wet the beans again with lukewarm water, rinse and cover again with the dampened cloth and put it back at the same selected place for another 5 hours. Continue this for 3 days until the desire length of sprouts.

Usually, I soak the beans overnight.

Now put the sprout in a large bowl or basin and fill it with water. Rinse the sprouts very well to take out the skin of the bean slip off. Tilt the basin so the skin will flow out with the water. There will be skin left that must be picked off. Drain the sprouts, put it in a container and refrigerate until needed. Sprinkle the water everyday to make it healthy for at least 3 days. Don’t let the tips of the sprouts get brown before use. We called mung beans mongo while mung sprout is touge.

The sprouts output above usually results to curled sprouts.

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A Japanese friend who processed soy bean products like soy milk, bean curd and tofu shared me how to sprout mung beans the straight sprout. At the corner of his soy kitchen, as he called it, there is a large screen table. This is where he sprouts his beans. He spread the wet mung beans on the screen with wholes enough for the sprout to come out. He covered the beans with a heavy dampened cotton cloth. He watered the cloth regularly to regulate the beans to sprouts downward by the holes. The sprouts come out of the screen holes from the beans straight downward and when the sprouts is long enough, he just invert the screen carefully and tap it to loosen the sprouts and skin (but not all sprouts are straight) and there you have a crunchy straight sprouts ready for cooking or salad preparation.

There are many ways to sprout your beans. You can follow the methods used for mung bean sprouts and continue the process for around 6 days until you have the sprouts of the right size. You must water and drain the beans at least 3 to 4 time a day or it might not work which can happen easily if you are negligent. The easier method is to buy a dark sprouting jar with a mesh lid that is available in some garden stores and most health food stores.

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SOY BEANS – ½ cup dried soy beans (makes 3 cups sprouts)

Select the beans and remove beans with cracked or broken ones. Rinse the beans several times changing water every time. Soak the beans with 5 cups of lukewarm water for 12 hours or overnight preferably. Rinse and put the beans in a jar and put it in mesh lid. Place the jar on its side in a warm and dark place (an empty oven is a best choice). For the next 5 to 6 days, remove the jar from the selected place fill the jar with water, rinse and put it back. Do not forget to wet the beans regularly, at least 3times a day. Keep doing this until the sprouts are about 3 inches long or shorter as you desire. Empty the content of the jar into a bowl of water. Pour out the skin by pouring the water. Put the sprouts in a bowl of water and refrigerate till needed. They will last for 4 to 5 days. Change water everyday.

Now you can have your sprouts.

Reference:

Ronthought Journal – Vegetarian Cooking

World of the East-Vegetarian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey

http://www.thefarm.org/charities/i4at/lib2/sprouts.htm

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