Sprout report

Sprouting seed is easy and provides great variety to winter salads and garnishes. Right now I have batches of fenugreek, Red Russian kale and radish ready to eat. The kale is a micro green- very fine redish stalk and tiny dark green leaves. The fenugreek is a very long, elegant tannish white stalk with pale green leaves and the radish is in the middle in terms of length. THey all have a bit of crunch in texture and a definite bite in the finish. The fenugreek started out with it's typical aroma but it is barely recognizable in the finished sprout.
The only thing I had trouble with when I first started sprouting was getting the right temperature. They all need a fairly warm environ to start- at least 70F and my house is never that warm in the winter. I discovered that the cabinet next to the dishwasher makes a perfect overnight incubator. The warming drawer is also a few degrees warmer. I rinse before bed, before and after work and that is quite enough. When they are to size, they go in the fridge and last for 7-10 days.
For pennies and minimal effort you can have a cafeteria of interesting greens. If you love to garden and nurture living things sprouting is highly theraputic.
www.sproutpeople.com is a good reference with seeds, info, time lapse videos and pictures of sprouts at different stages

Christina, I loved the movie of the sprouting wheat-grass, and I really like the concept. But that must be the most confusing website I have ever been on, each page just goes ON and ON and ON. And when you want to clarify something and click, you get another endless web page! I think if I could get a page about 2 screens in length that offered me some kind of introductory sprout kit I would order it. But I just gave up on it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nvAzt9sWIg&

I used to plant wheat grass for Nowruz, the Persian New Year. You are supposed to have a dish of "sabzi" or greens on display, and those should be started about now. In Iranian neighborhoods you can just buy a glorious one from any florist but around here, you need to start the sprouts around now so that they will be luxurious on Nowruz (March 21). I learned that the wheat at the local health food store will sprout and I've done that. Of course I planted them in a layer of dirt, so I didn't do the rinse and drain cycle that the website talks about, it was more like starting a crop or something.

Long time sprouter here. I sprout in wide mouth quart canning jars with (new) pantyhose over the top. I've been meaning to get in the habit again so I can use the sprouts in bread, as well as in salads and on sandwiches. Radish sprouts are my favorite.

I used to live in a place where the hot water heater was easily accessed in a downstairs closet. I'd set the jars on the top of it. I imagine that nowadays they might be too efficient to use that way, even if I could get to it in this house.

Have not done much sprouting myself but I once had an acquaintance who practically lived on them. He had a little cabin way out in the boondocks in eastern Mendocino county where he raised goats and practiced the sort of agriculture that people practice in those parts. Since he was quite a few miles from any sort of store, he would buy up lots of seeds and then sprout them in Mason jars. He seemed to do just fine with them.