Growing Sprouts

[hennaLisa]

I'm just venturing into the world of growing my own sprouts, and so far it has been a pleasant experience. I've just been growing alfalfa sprouts so far, using my Mom's method. She just puts a paper towel down on a strainer, moistens it, and sprinkles a spoon full of seeds onto it. Then she covers it with another paper towel and moistens it again. She sprinkles about a cup of water on it twice a day to keep it from ever completely drying out. This seems to work well, but I would be interested to know if anyone else has another easy method for alfalfa or other sprouts. My only issue is that I only have one strainer, and it's not that big. I was thinking about buying a bigger one, or a few... but then it occurred to me to consult the collective wisdom of this site in case there was an even better way to go about my new sprout growing kick. Thanks in advance for any ideas!!! :

[Magelet]

I love mung bean sprouts. What I do is I put some in a quart mason jar (a small layer, they REALLY increase in size), and fill it up with 5-8x as much water, and loosely screw on the lid, and place it in the dark. 12-24 hours later, I drain and rinse the beans (using my hand or a strainer), and put them back in the jar. I then rinse them every 12 hours for a few days, until they are sprouted enough for my taste. I don't like them super sprouted, only enough to be vegetable-like, not all long.

I know you can also buy little screens to put in the top of the mason jar so you can easily drain it, for all sorts of sprouting.

[mnnice]

I have a small stackable plastic sprouter that I bought for just a few bucks and I really like it because I can do multiple kinds of sprouts at the same time (without mixing them). I done radish, broccili, frontier's sandwich mix, and mung bean so far.

[RosieL]

I thought I would bump this old thread rather than starting a new one. I'm venturing back into sprouting after a couple failed attempts late last year. here's my current mung bean crop. They saw too much light (flourescent indoor only!), so next time I'll keep them totally in the dark. I also have way too many. 

I keep them inverted over a paper towel to make sure they drain well and don't get moldy. Is this overkill?

Does anyone know how to minimize the long thin tails and maximize the thick part? Will the darkness take care of that too?

[farmheart]

I haven't done mung bean so can't help you there but you are supposed to keep them in the dark until they are as long as you want and then put them in the sun for a few hoours (or so I have read)

that isn't over kill to drain them like that I just use the lid with the wholes in it and leave upside down in the drying rack with the clean dishes!

[GardenStream]

You're doing a lot more than me.

I put them in a wide mouth pint jar. Then, I put a piece of cheesecloth over the top and screw the ring on. I run some water in it, swish it around and then pour it out. I also leave it on the counter right next to my sink. That's as elaborate as the system gets at my house.

I do mung and broccoli like this. I do them 3 days before I plan on using them.