Sprouting lentils - super cheap sprouts!!! and tasty!

[jenphilly]

So, we sprout quite a bit... We've purchased the special bird seeds for sprouting (do not recommend, waste of money and time). We also have purchased the organic seeds at Wegmans for human sprouting and those did extremely well but are quite pricey.

I had purchased lintels in the organic section once and they did really well and Victoria and I probably ate as much if not more then the bird. I have a bag of lentils you get at the grocery store (in bean section) for making up a lentil soup that Victoria tried in Turkey and liked. Out of curiosity, I checked about sprouting regular old $1.29 bag of lentils. Perfectly safe!!

So, I did the first try with some lentils I had left in the bag that I did not use for the soup. Soaked overnight... rinsed them well and spread them in the trays like I do for all the seeds. Couple days later, they are sprouted and are quite tasty Victoria has eaten an entire tray already herself

Thought I'd share... could kick myself for not thinking of it sooner. Think I paid like $5 for a little 2 or 4 oz bag the first time... now I know we can save a bundle and they are just as healthy!

 

[TessieB]

What a neat idea! I, myself like sprouts, and will try this.

 

[Terry57]

I am going to pick up some of those this week and try that...usually the only ones I find are split, so will look a little harder for these Thanks for sharing such a great and inexpensive idea

 

[jenphilly]

I just picked up another bag Saturday here is a pic I just took...



You can also find the red lentils too. I have not tried the red yet, but those will be the next ones to try! I cannot recall if I found these in the section with the other dried beans or in the ethnic section...

I was looking for barley too, that also sprouts really well, but could not find whole unhulled barley at the store. May check Wegmans for that too.

The lentils tho are one of the most nutritious sprouts, so for the cost, they are a really great buy!

I read that you can also sprout rice, but need to do more reading to see exactly what type you need. I did pick up some wild and long grain rice mix at Wegman's bulk section, so might try a handful just to see what I get!

 

[MomtoPercy]

Interesting! I've never tried sprouting - what I've read about the tricky fight against bacterial growth, has intimidated me

 

[jenphilly]

its not tricky at all... rinse the trays of seeds/sprouts twice a day every day. Then every other day or before you eat them, rinse with apple cider vinegar. Never had a problem!

Clean the trays and stands very well between rounds of sprouting so you start with clean disinfected equipment and just keeping on top of the rinsing and the vinegar takes care of anything that may get missed with regular rinsing.