Is Growing Sprouts the Answer for You?
Most people have had a sandwich with alfalfa sprouts on it at some stage, or mung bean sprouts in a plate of Chinese Chow Mien. However, more and more people are starting to become aware of the power of these ‘superfoods’ not just as an addition to something else, but as an amazing meal in and of themselves. Growing sprouts yourself takes this to a whole other level, for the convenience (if you grow them the right way), low cost and availability of the freshest food grown right in your home.
Once a grain or seed starts to germinate, they are known as ‘Sprouts’ and they are often classified as ‘Superfoods’. They contain high values of vitamins, minerals, digestive enzymes and amino acids that are not found in the unsprouted seed. The list of health benefits can go on for pages, but perhaps the most basic and significant feature of these living superfoods is that the growing process itself gives you full control over their cultivation. No hidden pesticides, chemical fertilizers or any other nasties but the water from your own sink. Most of the time we never really know what has happened to our food before it reaches our table, so the importance of a method allowing you to be in full control cannot be overstated.
On top of this, growing sprouts can be done in many places where vegetables cannot be either grown or transported to, while still fresh enough to deliver health benefits. Even if you lived on a boat, or in a climate that was either too hot or too cold to have a garden, you can still have access to fresh, live, sprouted foods when you learn the basics of sprouting. And also, unlike most vegetables, even if you live in a place where they are available, sprouts are never out of season.
The health benefits cannot be underestimated. The human body needs oxygen rich vegetables and living foods to thrive. As wonderful as these foods are, there are climates where it is unrealistic to expect people to be able to cultivate them. In extremely cold or hot climates, food often has to travel hundreds, if not thousands of miles to its destination, so one of the few available options is to create an indoor greenhouse. Extremely cold environments would require an indoor heated greenhouse that is extremely expensive and complicated to build and maintain. On the other end of the spectrum, high desert environments are usually low on water, and to use hundreds of gallons of water over a growing season when most of it evaporates is unsustainable. Even in areas that are perfect for growing large amounts of fresh vegetables, year round growing is not possible.
To combat all of these issues, the answer may lie in growing sprouts. You use a jar or similar sprouter to create a greenhouse (or several greenhouses) that can be kept on your kitchen counter, providing you and your family with tantalizingly fresh, oxygen and enzyme rich foods, any time of year.. There is also a basic yet revolutionary new method of growing sprouts known as the Marche Method. It offers an amazingly simple technique that eliminates the need for daily rinsing and spoiled sprouts. The bonus is that it is cheap, fast and reliable and you can grow as little or as much as you like.