How to grow your own sprouts in a jar

When I was a little kid, my mom used to have gum bull and vending machines as a hobby/side business and was always looking for new items to fill them with. I remember helping her make "Grow your own bean sprout" kits, by putting a lima bean and small typed up instructions on how to grow it into a small plastic ball that could then be purchased from eager sciencey little kids who wanted to grow their own lima bean plant. She would let me bring these little bean sprout kits with me to school to share with my classmates and they were always a big hit. I never knew that 20 years later I would use what I learned to grow my own sprouts regularly as a staple food item in my home.



Having a plant based diet means finding fun new ways to incorporate protein into my diet (No I'm not saying it's HARD to get protein, but I like to switch it up so that just means being creative and trying new things in the kitchen!), and one thing I've always loved is sprouts. We get them from favorite farmers at our local farmers market, but never knew that it was possible to grow our own within just a few days for a fraction of the cost! Buying sprouts from the supermarket is risky-- they have a higher chance of carrying bacteria and are never fresh- they're already a couple days old (at least) after being transported from wherever they were grown and then stocked on the supermarket shelf. Locally grown sprouts are the absolute best option, but if you're like us and want to eat them with almost every meal it really makes sense to just grow them yourself! There are several ways to do this-- but I chose the jar method as it's compact, easy, and has a high success rate with low risk of your seeds drying out. You can grow a similar alfalfa/clover/radish/sweet pea mix to mine, like what's shown here in my tutorial, but almost any kind of edible seed can be sprouted and eaten and you can even sprout whole grains, nuts, legumes and beans before cooking and consuming them to help increase their nutritional value and make them easier to digest. For simplicity, I will give instructions on how to easily sprout seeds at home, but these same instructions can be used to sprout most other things, with the only thing changing being the time it takes for them to sprout. If you're unsure if you can sprout something.. just google it! There's endless resources on this stuff.. but of course I want share my own take on it to prove that it's really very simple and only requires a few basic steps. So let's get sprouting!

First off-- where can you purchase your seeds for sprouting? Most health food stores should have sprouting seeds available, and they can also be purchased online in bulk. Even seeds/legumes/grains/nuts not marketed as "sprouting" should work. You can sprout common seeds you may already eat often such as flax, chia, sunflower.. legumes such as lentils, and beans.. and whole grains such as rice, quinoa, millet, amaranth, buckwheat, all straight out of their package (look for air-tight packages, and avoid descriptions such as roasted, hulled, blanched or anything that's been heated or processed in any way. Bulk bin stuff isn't recommended because it has not been stored in a dry air-tight container, however I have found success with some bulk bin items and plan to try with various bulk bin items I've purchased-- the key is to make sure they are not contaminated or contain any kind of bacteria before sprouting). Soaking and sprouting times may vary depending on what you're sprouting, but these general instructions should work for most.

Materials needed:

Glass jar with fitted screw top ring (like a mason jar)

A piece of cheesecloth, nut-milk straining bag, kitchen towel, or similar material held on jar with the jar's screw top ring or a rubber band OR special sprouting lid that screws right on your jar

filtered water

sprouting seeds/nuts/legumes/grains


Instructions:

Fill up your jar with seeds (or nuts/grains/legumes) in a thin layer on the bottom. You can use just one kind or multiple kinds if you want to end up with a mix, as long as they all have similar sprouting times. Here I used 1 tablespoon each of sweet peas and three kinds of seeds (alfalfa, radish and red clover).



Fill your jar with FILTERED water at least a couple inches above your seeds. Stir them a bit so they sink to the bottom.



Cover jar with one of the covers mentioned above (use a cloth, nutmeg, etc. and hold on with metal ring or rubber band so you don't lose your seeds) that will keep objects out (such as dust, pet hair, dirt and other things that may grow bacteria) but let air flow freely. Let jar sit somewhere safe like on your countertop filled with the water for about 12 hours.

Rinse your seeds by draining the water out, adding new filtered water, swirling around and draining again. This can be done right through your cover, or if cover is thick like a towel it can be removed for this process. Put cover back on your jar and let the jar sit downward at an angle in a bowl so that any remaining water can drain out. The cover will keep the inside of the jar moist enough so the seeds won't dry out and they can grow.



Twice a day, in the morning and evening, rinse your seeds by adding water, swirling around and draining the water out, and returning the jar to a downward angle so it can drain.

Within a few days you'll see sprouts begin to grow. The sprouts will fill your jar completely when they're ready (most take 2-5 days) and the seed hulls will fall off on their own.


You can rinse them again to remove the seed hulls. Dry the sprouts on a towel and store in an airtight in the fridge for up to a week.



Sprouts can be enjoyed raw (except some beans), cooked, on salads, as a salad themselves, in soups, blended into hummus or dips, baked or dehydrated into sprouted breads and much much more.  You can literally add sprouts to anything and my favorite way is in salads or on top of a nice raw, wholesome meal. There are endless ideas and as I experiment I'll share what I learn/come up with with you!

Enjoy your easy sprouting at home, where you can have a constant and endless supply of sprouts! As your sprouts are ready to be eaten you can immediately start a new batch so they'll be ready by the time you finish your first batch! Let me know if you have any questions about the process or if you want to share your own sprouting adventures at home :) If you become addicted to using mason jars for sprouting and want to get creative and use them for other food related adventures, check out my post about grain storage, to go meals, and more by using jars here. I'm absolutely obsessed with mason jars and the more ventures I use them for the more I have to buy!