By Will Bonsall
Back in the ‘60s and ‘70s, eating sprouts was all the rage, unsurprising since they are rightly reputed to be loaded with vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and easily digested proteins, far more than the unsprouted seeds. Many folks even went so far as to grow their own sprouts (many still do), sprouting clover, alfalfa, radish, mung beans, and lots of other appropriate seeds. The assumption was always that you buy your sprouting seeds at the health foods store (or perhaps the feed/seed store). But why not grow those seeds in our own gardens? Of course, some seeds, like mung beans, are not easily grown in our short, cool seasons, and others like clover and alfalfa, may be possible but not practical to grow and process in useful quantities. Let’s look at those which are easily grown on a small garden scale.
First let’s talk about bean sprouts, which are typically mung or adzuki and are traditionally quick-cooked in stir-fries. While these beans require a longer, warmer season than most of us have, a very acceptable substitute is peas for sprouting. I’m not referring to pea shoots, those succulent tips of the vines that are excellent raw in salads. I mean field peas, the hard round green or yellow peas used in soups. That’s whole peas; of course, split peas just won’t do for sprouting. So how to grow them and how to sprout them? I’ve had best luck seeding field peas roughly 1 inch apart in furrows 2 feet apart, three rows per bed, in beds 6 feet on center. I don’t walk in there but mulch between rows until they’re established enough to withstand any weed pressure. I sort of hill them up with the mulch to hold them erect as long as possible — no support needed. Eventually they will tip and run, so before that I usually lay some lopped branches in between the rows to keep the pods off the ground. The two side rows I encourage to lean into the center row, therefore keeping the paths free to walk. When the maturing vines are yellow-brown and the peas are nearly hard, I pull them and stack them on poles to finish ripening/curing. If overripe at harvest, the pods will tend to shatter onto the ground. When very dry, it’s easy to thresh and winnow the peas just like dry beans.
Now how to use them? I replace the canning lids of quart or half-gallon jars with rounds of nylon screening, held in place by the rings. I dump in some whole peas but nowhere near enough to fill the jar. I then fill the jar with cool fresh water and let the peas soak overnight. On the next day, I pour off the water, then fill the jar and again pour off the water, rinsing the seeds. Next, I lean the inverted jars at a steep angle so the rinsed seeds continue to drain — I use a dish strainer to hold the jar in the right position. Standing water is death to sprouts. I repeat this rinsing process at least twice a day until the peas are sprouted at least an inch. They should look and cook a lot like mung bean sprouts. This is basically the method used to grow most sprouts.
Most of the other sprouts I have in mind are usually served raw in salads (not that pea sprouts cannot also be eaten raw). Alfalfa and clover sprouts are particularly loaded with nutrients, but it is harder to grow the seeds. I’ve harvested red clover seed from the hayfield, but it’s harder to separate it from wild grass seed, that is, if you’re using a blueberry rake to collect the dry flower heads. Having a dedicated patch seeded to clover gives a better yield and quality. Of course, we can hand pick the seed heads (as some do for clover tea when in blossom), but I’ve found that far too tedious. Either way, when the ripe flower heads are brittle dry, I rub them hard and long until the blossom bits come loose and can be blown away. As much as I’m a stickler for do-it-yourself stuff, I must admit the clover and alfalfa seed from the feed store looks mighty appealing.
That’s much less true for the small-seeded brassicas like radish, turnip, and kale seeds. Many years ago, we planted and harvested a bountiful crop of rapeseed, thinking to press our own vegetable oil. Realizing we had no equipment to press the oil (as we do now), we looked for another way to use all that seed. First, we used it to grow rape greens, a very quick-growing leafy vegetable milder than turnip or mustard. Indeed, we thought we had invented that idea until my aunt visiting from Maryland looked at our garden and exclaimed, “My land, I haven’t seen rape greens for years!” Next, we used it in green manure mixes with oats and field peas, which is dandy if you can prevent buildup of flea beetles. Finally, we tried sprouting it, after noticing the local health foods store carried seed of cauliflower, a close relative. Sprouted rape is delicious is salads; moreover, raw rapeseed contains a lot of toxic erucic acid, which sprouting removes (modern “canola” is a type of rapeseed that has had the erucic acid bred out of it).
A concern with brassicas is that many of them are biennials, i.e., you must overwinter the plants so they can make flower stalks, flowers, and seeds in the second year. This is compensated by the fact that they produce such bodacious quantities of seed.
Sunflower seeds are very tasty sprouted; their flavor is reminiscent of terrasols or sunchokes, a near relative. The sprouts should only be allowed to grow as long as the seed. Of course, to sprout sunnies you first have to de-hull them (which we demonstrate every year at the Common Ground Country Fair, if you care to bring your own seeds to process), but if that’s not possible for you, you can always grow “sunflower lettuce.” You just plant the seeds, hulls and all, in shallow trays of compost (or soil or whatever) and let them grow until their cotyledons (seed leaves) have opened but are not yet true leaves. You clip these off at soil level and rinse to remove any spattered dirt. Some hulls may cling to the seedlings and must be teased off by hand. The exact same thing can be done with buckwheat (hulls and all). As with sunflowers, if a few hulls cling to the seedlings, you can pick or gently tickle them off. Again, clip them off at soil level and rinse. Buckwheat cotyledons, like the true leaves, have a delicate tartness reminiscent of their rhubarb kin — a nice addition to most salads.
In addition to “vegetable” sprouts, you can also sprout grains, though for different purposes, such as an ingredient for breads. Another form of sprouting is “malting” (commonly for barley or wheat) to convert the grains’ starches to simple sugars, either for brewing beer or making sweeteners such as barley malt syrup. As for how to grow these seeds — sunflower, buckwheat, grains — I’ve written in-depth articles on them all in previous editions of The MOF&G, which you can access online at mofga.org. When I’m sprouting wheat for whatever purpose, I’m careful to save the first soak water (which has been referred to as “rejuvelac,” a tasty and nutritious beverage). Be that as it may, I use its enzyme content as a starter for making a non-dairy substitute for sour cream. I grind a lot of raw (unsprouted, dry) sunflower seeds, in a grain mill or food processor, into a fine oily meal that I mix with enough sprout water to make a thick cream. I place this on a warm shelf (wherever you might rise bread) overnight. It separates as it ferments (though this isn’t a bacterial process), so I stir it once and refrigerate it for a couple of days for the tanginess to mellow. It makes an excellent smetana to serve with salad or in borscht. By the way, I understand this can be done with sprouting seeds other than grain — for example, quinoa — but I’ve only experimented with hard red wheat. The other way I’ve used wheat sprouts is to simply dry them and grind them coarsely in my Corona grain mill to produce a mildly sweet malt meal that goes great when cooked with cornmeal or other cereals.
Note: The warm, moist conditions in which sprouts are grown can be favorable to harmful bacteria, including E. coli. You can read more about safety precautions for growing, cooking, and eating sprouts through the U.S. Food & Drug Administration.
About the author: Will Bonsall lives in Industry, Maine, where he directs Scatterseed Project, a seed-saving enterprise. He is the author of “Will Bonsall’s Essential Guide to Radical Self-Reliant Gardening” (Chelsea Green, 2015). And indeed, he is also a distant cousin of another exemplary Maine horticulturist: Tom Vigue. You can contact Bonsall at [email protected].
This article was originally published in the fall 2024 issue of The Maine Organic Farmer & Gardener. Browse the archives for free content on organic agriculture and sustainable living practices. Subscribe to the publication by becoming a member!
