on sprouts and sprouting
February 22, 2014 4:01 PM   Subscribe

I love sprouts. Tell me your sprout secrets! I got one of those kits for growing sprouts - four little round trays and an assortment of seeds: alfalfa, clover, radish, all kinds of beans and lentils. I love them all and can easily eat an entire tray of baby plants in a few bites. So that's what I do - except for occasionally adding them to roast beef sandwiches, I just eat them plain. Please tell me other fun things to do with sprouts, interesting or unusual seeds to sprout and where to get them, how to grow lots and lots of sprouts, and whether it's possible to make oneself sick with a sprout overdose. I particularly like the spicy ones like radish and daikon. Mmm, sprouts.
posted by moonmilk to Food & Drink (13 answers total) 16 users marked this as a favorite
 
Here's a veggie sandwich that food service used to make at my alma mater, Oberlin:

Into a half pita: spread some cream cheese (I add some salt, pepper and dill), 2 fresh tomato slices, 3-4 cucumber slices, fill all remaining space with sprouts.

Height of confusion: eating sprouts when you have a very long mustache.
posted by plinth at 4:15 PM on February 22, 2014 [2 favorites]


I order my seeds from Sprout People. Dill: kind of minty and anise-y (but make sure you follow directions because they want fewer rinses than most sprouts). Fenugreek: sturdy and slightly bitter. Garlic: mild at the 7 day mark (friend: "I wouldn't have known these were garlic!"), garlicky at 14 days. You'll have fun browsing their offerings.

I do mine in jars because they take up less space than trays. Though they do take up more room in my dish drying rack.

whether it's possible to make oneself sick with a sprout overdose

Some beans (kidney beans; also, according to a friend who will never make sprouted raw black bean dip again, black beans) produce phytohemagglutinins, meaning if you eat them raw you'll get diarrhea. You might want to eat alfalfa sprouts in moderation because of L-Canavanine.
posted by cybercoitus interruptus at 5:29 PM on February 22, 2014 [1 favorite]


I always did mine in jars. If you like having fresh sprouts all the time, start dishes two days apart and you will always have a fresh batch ready to eat. I keep the house pretty cool in winter, so keep my sprout jar on top of the fridge to minimize germination time.
posted by variella at 6:16 PM on February 22, 2014


On a burger with brie and caramelized onions.
posted by jeffamaphone at 9:54 PM on February 22, 2014


Open faced everything bagel with jalapeño cream cheese, some chocolate chips and a wad of sprouts.
posted by ian1977 at 5:15 AM on February 23, 2014


Response by poster: Did you say "chocolate chips"? Intriguing!
posted by moonmilk at 7:10 AM on February 23, 2014


This sounds weird but I really like a pile of sprouts inside a pita spread with peanut butter.
posted by stefnet at 7:31 AM on February 23, 2014


whether it's possible to make oneself sick with a sprout overdose

I've had a much easier time growing lentil sprouts than other sprouts. A relative of mine was delighted by the taste took to growing them to eat 3 times a day. After some weeks of this they had an attack of gout for the first time in their life, which they attributed to the lentil sprouts.

This might be more that eating one specific food to excess will make you sick, rather than sprouts in particular.

Lentil sprouts hold up well to light cooking, and make a nice addition to stir fry type stuff.
posted by yohko at 8:24 AM on February 23, 2014


I make sprout sandwiches or wraps.

I use about 3 tablespoons of hummus (multiple varieties, flavors), 4 cucumber slices, a few tomato slices, avocado if I have it, salt and pepper and about a cup of sprouts. I've used broccoli, alfalfa and "zesty mix" sprouts and they are all delicious.
posted by morganannie at 11:08 AM on February 23, 2014


This book: Salads for all occasions has some decent, easy, and unusual sprout salad recipes. Everyone I've made them for has loved them.
posted by greta_01 at 4:51 AM on February 24, 2014


Sprinkled on miso soup.

And broccoli sprouts have high levels of sulforaphane, which has been proven to prevent cancers of the stomach and GI tract. You can find sulforaphane supplements, but the compound is too volatile to survive production, packaging, and sitting on a shelf, so broccoli sprouts are the way to get it.
posted by antinomia at 3:29 PM on February 25, 2014 [1 favorite]


Response by poster: Thanks! I'm gonna try all your recipes, and try not to gorge on alfalfa or lentil sprouts!
posted by moonmilk at 12:36 PM on March 1, 2014


Response by poster: (Anyone happen to know good places in NYC to buy sprouting seeds?)
posted by moonmilk at 12:43 PM on March 1, 2014


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