It’s been a while since I went to Youtube to learn to do something plant-oriented. I love Youtube because, even when I have good clear instructions and the process is simple, there is something about seeing someone do it.
I tend to go to Youtube even when the answer is self-evident. My favorite video of that sort came up on my search for “harvesting Brussels sprouts.” It was a woman who drove out in her truck in the late fall, after a frost, to her row of Brussels sprouts. And she took a large knife and cut off the stalks. Well OK!
What I wanted to know was if I could or should start harvesting them from the bottom up as they developed. Turns out, that’s good, too, and important for those of us who want to keep them fresh on the stalk as we eat ordinary portions.
While looking for that video (which I couldn’t find– given it’s lack of helpful information, I suspect it’s gone way down in the queue), I found another that says you need to prune the leaves from the Brussels sprouts stalks as they’re growing to promote more sprouts to grow. Now that is a good tip!
In my quest to have something green RIGHT NOW, I spent $4.95 on a sprouting lid and $2.99 on a packet of sprouting seeds, and this week I grew my first quart jar of sprouts.
Ta da!
There are a lot of videos online telling you various methods for sprouting or just showing you the lovely sprouts people grew, in bowls covered by paper towels, in trays of growing medium, and in jars. You don’t need a sprouting lid, but I generally like to buy equipment. Also, you need to rinse and drain the sprouts every day (twice a day is the right way, but I only did it once a day, which is probably why they didn’t grow fast or completely germinate). The perforated lid that securely fits a wide-mouth jar makes it very easy to rinse and drain the sprouts.
One thing is certain– this is cheap and easy. The photo here is of 1 Tbs of seeds after 5 days. I’m going to move the fully sprouted ones on top to a container in the fridge and let the ones at the bottom continue to sprout. You can just put the whole thing in the fridge and it will continue to sprout (though more slowly) until the jar is full.
These are from a 3-part salad sprouting mix: alfalfa, radish and broccoli. They are so fresh and delicious! I could hardly wait to heap them on a bagel schmeared with cream cheese (see photo above). I served them with some leftover latkes for brunch. The latkes were made with the last of the garden potatoes and market parsnips. The recipe, in Jerusalem, is fantastic.
I bought the mix and the lid from Cultures for Health, my new favorite site. I’d say I have enough for 6-8 more batches in the little package. Some of these serious online spouters– one woman was working five quart jars in rotation for fresh sprouts every day– order giant bags of individual sprouting seeds. Imagine that. I love big bags of seeds almost enough to do that. But I’m going to try to restrain myself.
I do think I’ll try sprouting beans, too. Chick peas, mung beans, anything you can grow can be sprouted. Mung sprouts for stir fries go bad so quickly, I love the idea of growing my own. I can buy them in bulk at the local co-op.
And if you go to Youtube and search on “how to sprout” you will find like 100 videos of people doing exactly the same thing… putting seeds in jars, rinsing them twice daily, and happily eating their sprouts.
Here is one: