Grow Bean Sprouts in your Kitchen

I wrote this for children. Pass it along.


Grow Bean Sprouts in your Kitchen
By Debra L. Karplus, MS, OTR/L

Those funny-looking little curly things at the salad bar and in Chinese food intrigue you. Mom says they are bean sprouts, tasty and healthy, too. She bought some at the supermarket last week; you snuck into the refrigerator and snacked on these sprouts. They were even delicious eaten by the handful! Curiously, you’ve never seen them growing in a garden.

Guess what! Growing your own sprouts is so easy. Unlike outdoor gardening, it is done in your kitchen in any kind of weather. It only takes a couple minutes each day, and within a few days you’ll have sprouts that you and your family can enjoy. The sprouts in salads are usually alfalfa spouts; the sprouts in Chinese food are mung bean sprouts. But there are many seeds and beans that can be used to make yummy, nutritious, edible sprouts to cook or eat raw such as lentils, adzuki beans, or wheat berries. Most of these can be purchased at the health food store or even the supermarket; Mom may already have some lentils in the kitchen.

WHAT YOU NEED:
1. Some beans or seeds for sprouting
2. An empty jar such as one from peanut butter
3. A strainer
And of course, clean hands

HOW TO GROW SPROUTS:
1. Place approximately ¼ inch of sprouts in the jar; it doesn’t need to be exact. Fill the jar with water from the sink. Leave it overnight.
2. The next day, rinse the beans using the strainer. Make sure the water is drained out of the jar.
3. Repeat this process for a few days, until the beans look like sprouts. In warmer weather, it will generally take fewer days for the sprouts to be ready.

That’s it! Nutritious, inexpensive, and earth-friendly sprouts you can grow to “wow” your family.