Brian T - Posted - 02/17/2011:  12:28:01

I am growing my own bean sprouts as an experiment. Better crunch and better taste than the store-bought stuff, which was a pleasant surprise. Plus, I know exactly how it was done. Temperature-dependent: my downstairs kitchen stays about 75F/25C because of the wood-pellet heating stove.

4 1-quart canning jars plus the brass rings.
Make 4 lids: circles of plastic window screen.
1 heaping tablespoon of dry mung bean seeds (the little green ones) in each jar.
The yield will be nearly half a jarful.
3 tablespoons of seeds with give you a jar packed with sprouts.

Start the jars 4 days apart to get a steady production.

Jar #1: add water to soak for 4 hours then drain.
Rinse with water morning and night.

Four days later, start jar#2. . . . . . .

The little green seed coats eventually come off. If you dump the entire contents of the jar into a bowl of cold water, you can skim off the green seed coats, they mostly float, the sprouts mostly sink.

KE - Posted - 02/17/2011:  12:56:23

I need to start doing this. My birds need some sprouted seeds in their diet. Wouldn't hurt me, neither. Good idea!

rinemb - Posted - 02/17/2011:  12:56:31

I have often substituted bean sprouts for speghetti noodles when making speghetti. No calories, no carbs and after you have hit em with the hot sauce and some good meatballs, not bad.

Then for our old 1970's hippie sandwich we would take 7-grain bread add layer of cream cheese, layer of fresh cut pineapple, and mound with alfalfa sprouts or bean sprouts. Here we preferred the alfalfa sprouts.
Brad

BConk - Posted - 02/17/2011:  13:06:00

Brad - that sandwich sounds groovy, man

RE: sprouting - if you're getting into it and want to do some exploring, buy some Bob's Red Mill "Hull less" barley, sprout that and sprout your own malt. Dry it at different temps for different flavors and colors. Dry it at temps less than 140°F and you have diastatic malt - in which all the enzymes are still active. That's a great thing to add in small portions to your favorite bread recipes. It has to be hull less barley though. It's a special variety of barley that has a very thin hull. Pearl barley won't sprout because the hull has been polished off.

Penel - Posted - 02/17/2011:  13:45:45

After making Rejuvelac from sprouted wheat and/or rye grain I usually grind it up with an onion and some garlic and then dry it in my food dehydrator to make raw sprouted grain crackers.

Yeah, my husband never asks what anything is before he tries eating it. I guess its easier to enjoy if he doesn't know.

Brian T - Posted - 02/17/2011:  14:25:21

17C/63F is too cold (upstairs kitchen, didn't get the stove set right. OOOPS) MY first batch was a bust.
Decided I'd try again before I said anything. Didn't think that it could be too sophisticated,
I just wanted something a bit different.
Although the germination times are probably going to be different, this should work for any seed.

Bob's Red Mill "Hull less" barley. Thanks, BC. On my list of shopping for "the big city."

My pasta dough is made with eggs. Freezes well, too. I like to sprinkle herbs on 1/2 of the sheet,
fold the plain half over that and run it through the rollers 3X before cutting. "Stained Glass" pasta.
I had a wood turner friend make maple tortelli molds: like tortellini but 3" x 3/4" circles.

Cooked & diced breast of ruffed grouse in a cheese-mushroom sauce, all in oregano stained glass pasta tortelli.