How do I grow bean sprouts inside?

[~emz~]

I love bean sprouts! they are totally awesome in pratically any kind of sandwich. howerever, i'm a total homemade girl so instead of buying them i would like to try and grow them. but i need some help. so if anyone knows how to grow bean sprouts, or any kind of yummy sprout for that matter, i would love to hear how you do it! thanks!

 

[DaCook]

I haven't grown bean sprout but I used to do alpha sprouts. I just rinced them well and put them in a pint jar with cheesecloth on top sealed and rinsed them daily. They gew like crasy.

 

[karadekoolaid]

I love bean sprouts! they are totally awesome in pratically any kind of sandwich. howerever, i'm a total homemade girl so instead of buying them i would like to try and grow them. but i need some help. so if anyone knows how to grow bean sprouts, or any kind of yummy sprout for that matter, i would love to hear how you do it! thanks!

In Madhur Jaffrey's book " Eastern Vegetarian Cookery" there's a very clear description of how to do it.
Now where did I put that book....???

 

[cjs]

I used to do them quite often. I had a nifty little plastic tube with different lids for the different stages of growing of the sprouts. I got seeds from the health food store. Be very careful to keep them in the fridge while sprouting. Botulism or one of those scary things can develop very easily in sprouts.

 

[sparrowgrass]

I do mung bean sprouts all the time. Use a quart jar, and put 2 tablespoons of mung bean in seeds in. Fill the jar with water, and soak the seeds all night. Next morning, drain the seeds. Every day, rinse the seeds once or twice, til they are as big as you like them--don't let them get too big, or let the leaves unfold, because they will be tough and stringy.

Takes 3-5 days, depending on how warm your kitchen is.

Botulism is not the problem, it is salmonella. Cook your bean sprouts and you will be ok. (And I would avoid feeding them to immune suppressed folks or babies.)

 

[AlexR]

Surely, there must be some way to sprout beans without having to cook them .

I've never done it, but I read above that you can do the whole operation in the fridge. Sounds good to me, I think I'll try it - that is, if I can find dry mung beans. There's an oriental supermarket near where I live.

Is there any particular *kind* of mung bean that's best?

Best regards,
Alex R.

 

[Alix]

Hey emz, are you sure its bean sprouts you want? The ones you liked on holiday were alfalfa sprouts. My Mom used to grow them all the time, but it is really much easier to go and grab a box of them than to grow them. (At least according to her). They're on the left hand side of the produce wall, and I noticed they have a ton of flavoured ones too.

 

[BreezyCooking]

I agree Alex - Mung Bean sprouts are rarely, if ever, eaten completely raw, but are a terrific component to all sorts of Asian stirfries. The sprouts you normally find in sandwiches & salads are the smaller types, like alfalfa, broccoli, radish, etc.

If you do a web search, you should come across scads & scads of methods for doing them at home, & many reputable seed companies not only sell food-quality seeds for sprouting, but also provide inexpensive equipment & free instructions on how to do it.

(By the way, it is mucho important to make sure any seeds you purchase for sprouting are meant for that. For instance, you shouldn't just buy packages of seed meant for planting & automatically assume they're safe for sprouting & eating.)

 

[cjs]

"Botulism is not the problem, it is salmonella." Thank you - I knew it was one of those little buggers!!