ottawa foodies

Anyone do this? Any tips? What do you use as a sprouter? What do you sprout?

The one my mom used when I was a kid had a couple of stacked round trays, kind of like the picture here but clear rather than green. She didn't have any complaints.

I found this picture via Google Image Search and this particular product is discontinued. I'm also curious to hear what people are using. I didn't like sprouts much as a kid but I'd be into them now. :-)

My dad used to do it with a mason jar with screen over the top, but I don't think it's very efficient. I'm digging around and will posting anything I find back in this thread.

www.instructables.com

I'm surprised not to see anything on leeners.com/

Here is another one on instructables

www.instructables.com

This thread reminds me of the alfalfa sprouts my mom used to grow when I was a teenager and which she subjected the entire family to. I seem to recall her lining one of the vegetable bins with moist paper towels and placing the sprouts on the towels. Within a couple of days they overtook the entire vegetable bin-:) Not sure if this method would work with other sprouts but alfalfas do spread like crazy! Actually one of the vendors at the organic farmers market in Ottawa South was selling the "seeds" for sprouting last year and I seem to recall him using a pot similar in style to a slow cooker but minus the plug.

i love sprouts and there are so many options now! great in sandwiches, on salads, snacks... i just use a mason jar with a piece of screen ontop. you can easily see how the sprouts are coming along.

i buy mine in sprout mixes - spicy mix, stir fry mix, salad mix, it is by mckenzie organic sprouting seeds
www.mckenzieseeds.com

Where do you buy those HFF?

EDIT: and how much do you put into what size of mason jar?

i bought my sprout mixes at thorne and company and another gardening place in ottawa south - but both have closed. i use about a 1/3 of the package in a large mason jar.

herb and spice on bank st might sell them, or something similar.

Can you estimate how much is 1/3 of a package? i.e. 1/4 cup? 1 cup?

ok, here are some more specific details off of one of my packages.

my stirfry mix contains the following:
green lentils, mung beans, garbonza beans and marrowfat peas. (looking at the mix, i can see mostly green lentils and mung beans.)

here are the easy sprouting directions on the package:

1. soak
put 1 - 2 tbsp seed in a wide mouth jar. Add water, swirl and drain.
refill with 1 cup lukewarm water. cover jar opening with cheesecloth (i used screen material, because that is what i had and i can keep reusing it) and secure in place with a rubber band. soak seeds for 6 - 12 hours at room temperature. drain.

2. rinse
next day pour off water through the mesh. add fresh water to thoroughly rinse seeds and drain. rinse and drain the sprouts twice per day.

3. enjoy
in just 3 - 5 days enjoy. refridgerate to keep fresh.

btw, the 1-2 tbsp fills up the mason jar i have over half full. there is still lots of air circulation when the sprouts are full. i wouldn't want to crowd them in there. if you want to do more sprouts, use a bigger container, just make sure you can easily wash and drain the sprouts in it.

I just put 3 tablespoons of mung beans into a 1L mason jar (assume you are using a 500ml one). I'm also ordering a bunch of other sproutable stuff from Mountain Path.

It's funny how things come in 3s. Suddenly everywhere I look, everyone is sprouting stuff! On the brewers' mailing list some guys sourced some local barley from a farmer and are trying their hand at malting (which is sprouting and then kilning). This morning while I had the boys at Yoga I was reading a Yoga magazine in the lobby while waiting for them, and there was an article in there about the health benefits of home sprouting!

Just enjoying a salad with a whole whack of my first crop in there. Very yummy!

3 tablespoons ended up completely filling a 1 litre mason jar in 6 days.

I've got another one started already and will keep them going in tandem to keep myself in sprouts.

I was already sold on this from the discussion here (so easy!) yet still never got around to doing it. I've been BUYING sprouts! Ach! Imagine!
So I was in Market Organics www.ottawafoodies.com at lunch today and this BioSnacky germinator from A. Vogel (bonus!) was being featured. The staff person beside it really knew his stuff and talked a great pitch.
My buying of endless little containers of biosnackies...oops, sprouts? Finito!

Market Organics carries a good selection of the A. Vogel seed packs as well as types they've bagged (onion, broccoli, and mustard are a few I recall) PLUS there's the long wall with the excellent selection of bulk organic beans to experiment with too.
www.avogel.co.uk

And, of course, glass jars also work. But I like the levels. :)

AMR - Cute gizmo. Let us know how the sprouts turn out. What I am curious about is how easy you'll find it is to use up all that grow (vs wastage).

I do it the same as HFF
have since the late 70's
but I rarely do mixes
I love onion sprouts
broccoli sprouts
corn sprouts
and watercress sprout

I agree,
Watercress, Corn and Onion sprouts are great.
I also love diakon sprouts.
I will also remain a mason jar boy.

And of course a video!



(time lapsed over 6 days)

That's pretty awesome Zym! That should get some more people interested in sprouting. Is there anything you don't grow, ferment or attempt? Besides chickens, that is, though I understand that's something that interests you too.
My wife bought me the big BioSnacky germinator like AMR posted for Christmas this winter and we've enjoyed numerous sprouts since then; she also bought a smaller version for our daughter to use. She got it at a health food store and buys the seeds there; you can also use seeds from eg Bulk Barn or wherever like the quinoa and wheat berries I've used for some sprouted seed breads. We've used radish, alfalfa, mung, cress, millet, and I forget what else. Actually she seems to get most of the sprouts underway and I'm quite all right with that =;0) BTW I've also used just 2 deep kitchen plates (glass pie plates would work too) to sprout seeds, with a paper towel on the bottom plate to keep the seeds moist. Another really good resource besides Zym's video is www.sproutpeople.com/ for all you might want to know about sprouting as well as a source for seeds, sprouting times for various seeds, recipes, etc.

I have been experimenting with my BioSnaky (and individual jars too) and have yet to have a dud crop. I've been buying the seeds/beans from both Market Organics and Herb & Spice and, I must say, everything has sprouted quickly and (volume-wise) impressively.
Seeing the transformation is quite exciting. If you have kids, you could show Zymurgist's video then put them in charge of sprouts for the family.

Checking out the above link supplied by Andy, reminded me to try soaks too (with seeds like almond, sunflower, etc.) as I remember seeing an interview on television with Natasha Kyssa of SimplyRaw. She mentioned/was soaking almonds to make the dough "crust"...I walked away for a few minutes...and when I returned there was a completed key lime pie! That means pie in four minutes, right? :)
I just checked out SimplyRaw's website and there's a few soaked seed recipes...
www.simplyraw.ca/recipes.php

Victorio Sprouter arrives in the next week or two - so excited! Got it through RawNutrition.ca for $19.99. Thought about going the jar route but wanted to save myself a few steps and keep the counter space footprint to a minimum. Got 2 packets of organic seed (alfalfa and ancient eastern blend) to start out with. Later figure I'll buy in bulk from Mumm's in Sask. Any local bulk seed sellers that you guys would recommend?

Mountain Path for bulk seed. They've got quite a bit worth sprouting

Thanks Z, I just checked out the website. I do recognize the logo. Are there any walk in place in town? I should be up in Ottawa next week and wouldn't mind doing a bit of a walk/shop about.

Most of the health food stores in town carry their products like Herb and Spice. Whether or not they'd have a variety of seeds in stock for sprouting is another matter.

You can drive to Mountain Path if you want - they are in Mountain, south of Ottawa.

Call the Herb & Spice on Wellington. They carry quite a few Mountain Path products and very well might have seeds, too. :)

Thanks guys - those are great suggestions. I've never been to Mountain. It might be a nice day trip after I finish up the contract I'm working on now.

FOR SALE

I've got one of these that works really well but I just never had room to put it anywhere. Story of my life in this tiny house.

www.rawnutrition.ca

$50 firm.

It is in mint condition and hardly used.

These things are really big so make sure you have room for it. It is about 12" diameter and maybe 15" high or more - I can measure.

You plug it in and change the water every day. It sprinkles the water at regular intervals. It is a really, really good sprouter. Wish I had room for it somewhere.