How To Sprout & Dehydrate Seeds

Sprouting is easy, amazing and part of our life as essential food. Not because we can’t live without it, but because all the process keeps us very much connected to nature, which is basically what we are. We believe everything is energy exchange. If we grow our own food from the beginning, respecting its rhythm and deeply appreciating the moment it feeds our body, somehow, we’ll be generating a magic energy cycle. And, finally, we as souls feel alive!

Best Way to Get All the Nutrients

Sprouting is a way to get all the nutrients from a seed, a nut or a grain. At the same time, we don’t get all the phytic acid and enzyme inhibitors that these foods contain, responsible for blocking our bodies ability to absorb all the minerals and vitamins. Some of us struggle when digesting these foods, for lack of proper preparation. What’s the point of eating something that our body can’t digest well? If we want to help our body to quietly digest and assimilate the nutrients, we should soak all the seeds, nuts and grains before we eat or prepare them. There are a few exceptions, such as flax and chia seeds, which should be ground or diluted right before being consumed. Some people say cashews and brazil nuts can be eaten as they are; we soak cashews and we eat brazil nuts in their simple form, as we only eat one a day (for their selenium content).

Sprouting can be done with or without soil. I’ll leave the soil ones for Vasco, I am sure he will write about his particular interest in sprouting that way, which is really great, although quite laborious. This way not only it works for most of the seeds, but also we end up with these green tender leaves, that easily become part of any salad. They are a very important part of our daily food, as, for now, we are diving deeply into the raw food lifestyle; although we still share and appreciate our vegan macrobiotic experience throughout the years.

The sprouting process I am about to show you is very easy and it doesn’t take too much time. It usually takes just a few days to have good results.

What to Sprout

Alfalfa and buckwheat seeds, lentils, adzuki and mung beans, and chickpeas are easy to sprout. Others, such as broccoli and basil seeds seem to gain mold very easily. Quinoa sprouts very fast and, after that, it usually can’t stand too long in room temperature (it works better in winter).

Don’t take this information as a guarantee of anything, this is only based on our experience. We know that sprouting is very influenced by climate conditions. Here, in Lisbon, the weather is humid, which probably doesn’t help to avoid mold in our sprouts.

Before you read the instructions below, be aware that, although you may sprout all the beans, the bigger they are, the more toxic they will be (specially soybeans), and sprouting doesn’t seem to help, in case you eat them raw. I would include chickpeas in this “be aware” list, as I don’t tolerate them well fully raw sprouted. For Vasco seems to be fine. Choose the small ones and see how they work for you.

Are you ready? Make sure that what you are sprouting is organic, to ensure the best results, at any level.

Recipe

Ingredients

2 tbsp of organic seeds
pure water

Preparation

Day 1: Wash the seeds, put them in a bowl or glass and cover with water. If you have a proper sprouting glass, a jar whose lid has holes, or other sprouting material, use it. It’s also possible to do it with no specific utensils. Basically, you are soaking the seeds for about one day or overnight. Leave them at least 8 hours in water. Make sure they are in a fresh environment, without direct sunlight.

Day 2: Drain and rinse them. Keep all the seeds wet, by sprinkling with water, once or twice a day, making sure there is no water left at the bottom. Cover them to protect from bugs and dust, but let them breathe by, for instance, putting a soft and porous fabric on top.

Day 3, 4, 5: Keep sprinkling with water. You will see sprouting tails during these days, sooner or later, depending on what seeds you’re using. You may continue the process, if your seeds are taking longer to sprout or if you want to see a green leaf appear. In any case, the longer you leave them sprouting, the bigger the possibility of gaining mold. Once you are satisfied with the result, wash the sprouts well and keep them in the fridge, while you are consuming them. This will decrease the germination process and will extend the quality of the sprouts, for about a week.

Dehydrating Sprouts

Unless you use the natural high quality dehydration process of the sun, if you want to dehydrate your sprouts, you need a dehydrator. It doesn’t have to be a big or expensive one and you can find it at any online or local household appliances’ store. Buckwheat is our favorite seed to sprout and dehydrate. Not only because it’s a fast process, it takes about two days to sprout and a few hours to dehydrate, but also because it has a mild taste, which is perfect to use in our raw pastry.

So first, you wash well your sprouts.

Then, you put them on a dehydrator tray covered with baking paper and dehydrate them at 115ºF, for 6 hours.

After that, you check how they are and mix them a bit, just to make sure they dehydrate evenly. They will be done and crunchy after 6 hours more, but you ay have a good result before that.

You can, now, simply eat them as a snack, add them to a meal or even grind them and use it to thicken burgers, veggieballs or pizzas. When you dehydrate the sprouts, you are extending their life. This way, you don’t have to put them in the fridge, you may store them in a closed glass bottle.

Have fun with your sprouts and let us know your experiences, by leaving your comments below.