Sprouter Recommendations?
August 27, 2011 8:50 AM   Subscribe

Recommendations for a sprouter? Have tried the jar method which resulted in slimy sprouts, and would like to buy something purpose-made!

So I'm thinking of upgrading to a purpose-made sprouter, since I love sprouts, they're super expensive at the store, and my previous attempts resulted in a slimy mess! I'm hoping to buy a sprouter, and while I see a lot of options on Amazon, I would love to hear if anyone has particular recommendations for products! I'm hoping to sprout a variety of things - alfalfa, mung beans, broccoli, etc. - so a sprouter that can handle a variety of seed sizes would be great. Do the expensive ($80+) automatic sprouters really work the miracle they claim to? Thanks for any advice!
posted by UniversityNomad to Food & Drink (8 answers total) 7 users marked this as a favorite
 
The slimey mess could be caused by microbial pathogens contaminating the seed stock. Wash your seeds with 10% bleach-water for a couple of minutes then rinse in water well before you sprout the seeds. If your seed stock is contaminated, you'll end up with a slimey mess regardless of whether you're using a home system or a fancy purpose-made setup.
posted by porpoise at 9:43 AM on August 27, 2011


Alfalfa is very easy to grow in those plastic strawberry containers - the ones with little ventilation holes. Soak a couple of sheets of strong paper towel, wring them out until they're still wet but not dripping, line the box, sprinkle the seeds on and they should sprout pretty well on a windowsill over the course of a week.
posted by essexjan at 9:57 AM on August 27, 2011 [2 favorites]


Yeah, I know a lot of gadget-loving food-nerds, and the ones who make sprouts all just use a jar with a screen. So that's not direct evidence that the automatic sprouters aren't worth it, but I think it's pretty solid indirect evidence. It's probably worth troubleshooting the low-tech method you're using before you shell out $80.

(Another thing to check if you're troubleshooting is air circulation. Try putting way fewer seeds in the jar — a big crop of sprouts will clog up the opening and keep air from getting in, and it takes surprisingly few seeds to make a surprisingly big crop of sprouts. Also if you're using the sort of jar-and-a-screen technique where you prop it upside down to drain, make sure that you're propping it in such a way that air can get in. If you set the screen flat on a saucer or countertop, it means your seeds aren't really draining or getting air, they're just sitting there in a puddle going moldy.)
posted by nebulawindphone at 10:13 AM on August 27, 2011


This is the sprouter that I use and I love it--no worries about adequate air circulation, drainage, etc. When I bought it several years ago, the instructions could have been more helpful, but the sprouter itself is great (and cheap). They also have nice seed mixes on the site.
posted by WorkingMyWayHome at 12:37 PM on August 27, 2011


I have this sprouter. Very happy with it. I second the advice to use fewer seeds than you'd think, and scrub it between uses.
posted by lemniskate at 3:09 PM on August 27, 2011


You have to rinse them every day until they don't smell at all of The Slime. If you do this you can also crowd the jar and get a higher yield than you could otherwise.
posted by cmoj at 3:52 PM on August 27, 2011 [1 favorite]


Just chiming in to say I too have done many successful crops of sprouts in a wide-mouth quart jar. Rinse, rinse, rinse, and drain, drain, drain. I found a way to leave the jars propped up at 45 degrees to maximize drainage and air circulation, and they've always come out fine.

Clover is nicer than alfalfa and easier to dehull, I find.
posted by Lexica at 9:20 PM on August 27, 2011


cmoj: "You have to rinse them every day ...."

Yep yep yep, this be the truth. Rinse them off -- rinse them well -- get all the hulls etc out of there, sprouts only, they thrive, in my (admittedly limited) experiece.
posted by dancestoblue at 7:08 PM on August 28, 2011


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