5 Reasons to Make This Yoga Girl® Kitchen Staple: DIY Sprouts
There’s something magical about growing your own food. If you don’t have the environment for a garden, you can still grow your own greens! I’m always growing one thing in the Yoga Girl kitchen: sprouts. And I have 5 reasons why.
1. Sprouts are bursting with active enzymes!
I love, love LOVE sprouts. They are super nutritious, delicious and a live food, meaning they’re bursting with active enzymes!
What are active enzymes? Every living creature needs enzymes for their body to function, but the body is only capable of making a certain amount of them. To help our bodies function at their best and keep us in good health, we need to put more enzymes into our bodies through enzyme-rich food, like raw fruits, vegetables and seeds.
Sprouting a raw seed dramatically boosts the power of its enzymes. Sprouts can have up to 100 times more enzymes than raw fruits and vegetables; they’ve been called the most enzyme-rich food on the planet!
2. Sprouts are super eco-friendly!
A doctor at Cornell University in the US brought sprouts from the Asian cultures and into the Western mainstream back in the early 1940’s.
Dr. McKay was super passionate about their benefits, saying they’re “a vegetable that will grow in any climate, will rival meat in nutritive value, will mature in 3–5 days, may be plated any day of the year, will require neither soil nor sunshine, will rival tomatoes in vitamin C, will be free of waste in preparation, and can be cooked with little fuel.”
How’s that for food praise??
3. Sprouts can be made at home in minutes!
You can better control how clean sprouts are if you make them yourself at home, but they’re still not recommended for people with weaker immune systems, like young children and pregnant women. Do what you can to make them clean, and trust your intuition.
The best part is sprouts are so easy to grow at home. You can sprout…
- beans and legumes
- grains
- grass
- microgreens
The sprouting time differs between what you’re sprouting, so do some research before you get started! I’ve been sprouting alfalfa seeds all month long.
4. Sprouts are nutrient dense!
Sprouting seeds increases the amount of protein, minerals and vitamins that you would otherwise get from the unsprouted seed — which are already superfoods.
Sprouts are super superfoods!
They help your blood, your bones, your cells and your organs all grow and function well. They’ve also been shown to help fight diabetes, high cholesterol and breast cancer.
The kind of sprouts that I’ve been making, alfalfa, have high levels of Vitamin K and C, plus protein, folate, copper, zinc, iron and other nutrients that make a body happy and healthy.
If you have PMS or menopause symptoms, alfalfa sprouts are said to be a great source of relief!
5. Sprouts are the perfect meal topper!
They add essential nutrients and the perfect light crunch!
I like to put my sprouts on salads, sandwiches (like avocado toast...yum!), vegan burgers and stir fries. If your meal is savory, you can’t go wrong with a little sprouts on top!
Sprouts take only a few minutes a day to prepare, and you’ll have a beautiful garnish that you can grab and top any time you want to make your meal a little bit fancy.
The Yoga Girl® Kitchen - DIY Alfalfa Sprouts
Serves 3-6
The Ingredients:
- 2 tbsp of sprouting seeds (I used alfalfa, but you can use mung bean, sunflower, clover, broccoli seeds or whatever you feel excited about)
- A 16 oz mason jar with the ring (no need for the cover)
- Netting of any kind to use as a fine screen (even an old stocking will do!)
The Process:
- Place the seeds in the jar, then fill about ⅕ of the jar with water.
- Place the netting over the opening of the jar and screw the ring on over it tightly.
- Let it sit overnight.
- The next morning, drain the water, rinse the seeds, drain again and place the mason jar lying on its side. The location should be bright but out of direct sunlight.
- Rinse 2-3 times every day, and within a day or 2 you should be able to see little openings in the seeds! They will begin to sprout and fill up the entire jar.
- In 5-6 days, the sprouts will be ready; they should be wild, green and gorgeous.
- Some people recommend dehulling your sprouts, but alfalfa sprouts are edible as they are, right away.
- Rinse 1 last time, drain well and dry a bit (a salad spinner works well) — this will make the sprouts last longer.
- Store in a plastic bag or sealed container in the fridge and enjoy all week long.
How do you eat your sprouts? Share your meal inspiration with us below!
Happy sprouting!
X,
Rachel