Sprouting Lesson

So I was motivated to write this post after I received an email from my friend Sapphire (yes I know it's an amazing name). She had forwarded me a press release from our friends at Public Health in Hamilton. The release outlined very clearly in its title:

All sprouts considered hazardous food products

Quite a warning. Salmonella and E.Coli are lurking in our refrigerators, contaminating our sprouts and trying to enter our bodies. Mentioned in the press release, well below and with a smaller font was the statement: "Not all sprouts are contaminated, and the majority of people who eat sprouts do not get sick". But then it jumped back to its recommendation that no one, healthy or ill, eat raw sprouts.

This press release happily was from 2006 but ultimately I think its demonstrative of the state's desire, outlined in a previous post, to control what and when we eat. The funny thing is that people get sick when they buy sprouts in store (and even then), not when they sprout them at home. But don't expect the state to encourage you to do something for yourself. Not going to happen.

So sprouts are actually quite healthy. We seem to eat something sprouted every day at our house: clover, alfalfa, radish, adzuki bean, lentil, sunflower. We think other people should too. So I wrote this post outlining how easy it is to sprout beans. The bean I used was adzuki beans. And remember it doesn't take any fancy specialized equipment (this was what used to keep me from sprouting) apart from the things that you have on hand at home.

1) Soak your beans for 24 hours.


2) Drain your beans in a colander.


3) Rinse them every day. Ideally twice but once is enough.


4) Wait a few days and you'll have nice crunchy bean sprout.