It’s summertime and who wants to cook? Sprouting offers an easy, nutritious way to get your grain on without the need for heat. After all, it’s hot enough outside. This is the time of year when it’s natural to crave more raw foods, and home sprouting offers easily digestible whole foods nutrition for pennies. Plus, they taste pretty damned good added to your favourite salads.

Join us in the sprouting revolution: here’s an easy, no hassle guide.

What you need
Grain (see chart below for exact amounts)
1 one litre mason jar
1 piece of cheese cloth or screen
1 elastic band

Method

Rinse and drain the grain 
Rinse grain thoroughly and drain using a strainer.

Soak the grain 
Put grain into a bowl and cover with water. Leave grain to soak for 8 hours or overnight. Drain and rinse thoroughly.

Place grain in a jar
Place grains in the jar and cover with cheesecloth and secure with elastic band.

Invert the jar 
Turn the jar upside down and prop up in a bowl to allow water to drain and air to circulate. Keep the jar somewhere with good ventilation and be sure it’s not resting in the water that has drained out.

Rinse and drain
Fill the jar with water and swish it around to wet all the grain. Drain and invert again. Do this 2-3 times per day.

Wait and watch 
The grain has sprouted when little tails appear out of the grain. This can take anywhere from 1-5 days.

Refrigerate
Once all the grain has sprouted, cover the jar with a lid and keep in the fridge. Be sure the grain has drained for at least 8 hours before putting them in the fridge or the sprouts may become moldy.

We love these sprouts mixed into green salads, or other grain salads. Sprouted lentils for example are excellent used in place of steamed lentils in our Herbed Quinoa Lentil Salad.This chart will help you sprout all of your Canadian dry goods!

SPROUT AMOUNT (for a 1 litre jar), SOAKING TIME, SPROUTING TIME
Lentil 3/4 cup, 8 hours, 2-4 days
Quinoa 1/2 cup, 4 hours, 1-4 days
Chickpeas 1 cup, 8-12 hours, 3-4 days
Wheat Berries 1 cup, 8-12 hours, 2-3 days

Enjoy!