Sprouts

As part of an effort to eat more healthy foods, I ordered some seeds to grow my own sprouts.  I happen to like sprouts.  I have ever since I first encountered them in the dining hall salad bar of my southern California college.  I thought there might be an outside chance that Penguin Girl, despite her vegetable aversion, would be interested in eating the sprouts if they were home grown.   A very small box of alfalfa sprouts costs $2-3 at the market.  A 1-pound bag of sprouting seeds cost me less than $5.  I couldn't even begin to say how many sprouts this bag would grow.  A couple of teaspoons of seed is enough to grow several handfuls of sprouts.

I researched the internet for seed sprouters and using a mason jar for sprouting.  I concluded that what you really need to do is just keep your container and seeds rinsed well so as to prevent mold and mildew.  I thought that would be easier for me to do just by using a shallow plastic container with its lid, saved from an order of Chinese take-out.  I got a mix of seeds:  alfalfa, red clover, radish, and mung bean.  Here's what they look like out of the bag:

The first step is to soak the seeds for about half a day.  Then I lined the container with a bit of damp paper towel, poured the soaked seeds into the paper towel, and loosely covered the container.  Each morning I would gather up the paper towel with the sprouts and run the whole thing under running water for a good rinse.  Then I'd rinse the container before replacing the sprouts and lid.  By Day 2, there was clearly some serious sprouting action:

They grow remarkably fast.

In about 5 days, they were ready to eat.  Mr. Destructo actually tried them with some enthusiasm at various stages of growth.  He likes beans and sunflower seeds so he was more willing to eat them in the first couple of days.  He'll eat a pinch of the really sprouty sprouts but that's about it.  Penguin Girl thought the growing process was very cool but not nearly cool enough to make her want to eat them.  I still asked her to try, which she did, but she did not care for them.  Maybe she'll like them when she goes away to college.