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"I'm convinced," says Gay Courter, "that sprouts do contain a varied and powerful battery of nutrients, rivaling citrus fruits in vitamin C and beef in protein, and surpassing almost any other known food source in completeness."

And if that isn't enough to convince you to try raising and eating your own homegrown shoots, Gay Courter (author of The Beansprout Book) adds that the squiggly little vegetables are delicious, quite economical, and an ideal food for weight watchers (one fully packed cup of mung, alfalfa, or radish shoots, for instance, contains only about 16 calories).

Perhaps most important of all, sprouting is fun — and easy for hikers, students, farmers, salesmen, truckers...or anyone who wants to enjoy fresh and natural food all year round. "If you can reach a supply of water twice daily, and if the temperature is within the range of comfort for human habitation," Gay says, "there's no place too small or remote for sprouting!"
Choosing Seed Sprouts

Experts contend that virtually 99 percent of all vegetation is edible in the sprout stage, but you shouldn't try to cultivate either potato or tomato sprouts, which are said to be poisonous if eaten in quantity.

The most common beans, seeds, and grains for sprouting are alfalfa, lentil, mung, rye, soy (yellow), wheat.

There's no reason not to experiment. Test seeds planned for your vegetable or flower garden. The only problem is finding seeds that will sprout consistently and sprouts that taste good. When trying a new or esoteric sprout, begin by sprouting only one tablespoon of dried seeds as a test.
Buying Sproutable Materials

"Seed-quality" beans are generally recommended for sprouters, as compared to "food quality." Seed quality means that the seeds are meant to be grown and therefore will sprout. Food quality means the seeds were meant for cooking in their dry, unsprouted state, are of a lesser grade, and have a lower germination rate.

Luckily it is becoming easier to purchase seeds, beans, and grains specifically grown for sprouting. These can be found in health-food stores and specialty shops, and are available from many excellent mail-order houses.
How to Make a Sprouter

You can spend between $5 and $25 to purchase sprouting apparatus that will successfully sprout most beans, but there are probably a dozen containers in your kitchen that will work equally well, as I found when testing seeds and beans for sproutability.

My basic sprouting system requires any receptacle large enough to hold the finished sprouts, but this container must not be transparent, wooden, or metallic. If you wish to sprout in glared pottery, it must be high-fired stoneware and never low-fired earthenware, which may contain toxic lead sulfate in its glaze.

Containers of plastic, china, enamel, and unglazed pottery are excellent choices. Since the sprouting container must be kept covered, anything that comes with its own lid is a good choice, including bean pots, crocks, canisters, coffeepots, fondue pots, cookie jars, chafing dishes, large plastic storage containers (Tupperware, Rubbermaid), and plastic ice-cream boxes.

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic-gardening/growing-sprouts-at-home-zmaz77zbon.aspx#ixzz3GZi99zWb

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