Do you need advice about sprouts ?             Follow the ladybugs !

Organic sprouts need only water, heat, oxygen and light to germinate and to offer us their treasure of benefits.

From cereal : amaranth, oats, wheat, spelt, millet, barley, quinoa, buckwheat, rye.
From peas and beans : azuki and mungo beans, lentils, chick-peas and soybeans.
From vegetables and oleaginous plants: alfafa, cabbage, watercress, fenugreek (an aromatic herb), flaxseeds, mustard, pumpkin, radish, horseradish, rocket lettuce, sunflower.
There are also mixes ready to germinate, or already germinated, sold in organic food shops.

A hollow container and a small strainer, or a glass jar closed with muslin are enough. You can also buy a seed-bed in a shop, it’s special equipment for germinating seeds..

A few tablespoons of seeds are enough to begin. When you begin to enjoy the taste of sprouts, you will certainly want to try different varieties, and you may have several jars of sprouts going at the same time.

Most seeds need a soaking time from several hours to about 2 days. During this time, the envelope of the seed bursts. It’s not the same time for all seeds, because the thickness of the envelope and the size of the seed vary.
There are different schools of thought about sprouting times, but in general, we speak about short term (some hours) for alfafa, watercress, flax, sesame and sunflower, and a longer time (from one to two days) for cereals and pulses.
It’s not recommend to let amaranth and quinoa soak. Doctor Kousmine said that soaking isn’t recommended for whole rice, as the process makes it acid, nor for buckwheat, which may spoil.
When you see that germination has begun, drain all the water.

It’s necessary to change the water every day, that’s why you need the small strainer or the muslin, to drain the water and not lose the seeds. Rinse seeds with clear water, with the strainer or the muslin, drain all the water, keeping the jar inclined, for example on the plate-rack, so all the seeds are well-positioned.

When you see some small and vigourous sprouts appearing, it means that germination is starting. Move and mix regularly your seeds because they need to be well ventilated and well drained.
To germinate, seeds need humidity and heat, between 20° C and 21° C but 25° C for amaranth and quinoa. You can start the germination in a closed cupboard or on the counter, but avoid full sunlight.

You can conserve sprouts in a closed container for 48 hours in the refrigerator but it’s better to eat them immediately, so begin several glasses at different times, like the different steps of a seeding a garden, so you will always have fresh sprouts for each day, just as you would plant a garden in order to have flowers always blossoming.

The nutritive value of seeds is tenfold when they germinate. Sprouts contain enzymes which stimulate digestion, and starch, usually hard to digest but in this form, now glucose, it is not a problem to digest. Sprouts contain a lot of vitamins, up to 100 times more than the seed, depending on the seed and the level of germination. They add also a lot of calcium, magnesium, iron, phosphorus, proteins, and essential amino acids. Mixed sprouts are very good because the benefits of one completes the benefits of another.

When the sprouts are big enough, some centimeters long, you can eat them. Cereal, pulse and oleaginous sprouts have to be eaten quickly once germination begins. For the others, you can wait the sprout is 3 to 5 centimeters tall with a real stem and leaves. Grains of wheat, chick-peas and mungo beans (green soybeans) can be cooked a very short time in boiling water or cooked a short time in steam.
Rinse them well before using to eliminate any traces of the envelope and small roots.
Sprouts give many benefits for health because they add multiple assets, including a unique taste depending the variety of sprouts, which adds wonderful perfume to dishes.
You can sprinkle them on your salads, your hot dishes, your sliced bread, and your sauces. They make your dishes crunchy, fresh and full of benefits.

Buy or make home-made a good organic bread, fresh and nourishing. Cut some fine slices in various forms : rectangle, triangle, lozenge, round, it’s a good way to study geometry again with your favorite kitchen equipment !
You can also use different kinds of bread : rustic, with spelt or other cereals….
Spread your canapes with unsalted or salted butter, sour cream, sesame cream, nut spread, onion preserves, hummus, egg-plant jam, look for all the delights you can find in your cupboards.
Some days before, you have germinated a good quantity of fenugreek. You see the strong sprouts, vigourous and appetizing. Now they embellish your canape with all their vitamins and benefits.
© : Bernadette Nozarian

Use an unflavored natural yogurt. Quantity depends on the size of your salad and how many guests you have.
Prepare a carrot, a shallot, some fresh sorrel, mix all together in a robot.
Mix the prepared vegetables with the yogurt, add 1 or 2 tablespoons walnut oil or sunflower oil, then a good handful of fenugreek sprouts, mix gently and pour the mixture into a nice sauce dish. Put it on the table with a bowl of mixed salad (cereals, pulses, fine slices of seasonal vegetables, or crushed, different seeds : sesame, hemp, brown or golden flax seeds, sunflower) . It could be very enjoyable to eat this salad with a salted (not a dessert) cake.
© : Bernadette Nozarian