Sprouts - superfood from the windowsill

Home-grown sprouts are healthy

If you like to eat healthily, you`ll almost automatically end up gardening sprouts. They are a real superfood - protein source for vegans and diabetics, rich in unsaturated fatty acids and fiber, as well as minerals and vitamins. Moreover, most sprouts are gluten-free.

Sprouts are so healthy because they are full of health-promoting ingredients such as vitamins, minerals and high-quality amino acids, even more than full-grown vegetables. And since they are harvested fresh from the windowsill, none of them are lost due to long transport distances or storage times. They can be used for salads, smoothies, in soups, as wok vegetables, on sandwiches and as decoration.

Growing sprouts inhouse is child`s play. It works best with Eschenfelder sprouting glasses, but you can also grow the sprouts in sprout bags, germinating trays, germinating machines or simply in homemade small bowls.

Legumes

All pulses (lentils, peas, mung beans, soybeans, chickpeas, borlotti beans, etc.) are particularly suitable for beginners. They germinate quickly (e.g. in the Eschenfelder sprouting glasses), taste mild and are crunchy. However, sensitive people do not tolerate them very well and may react with stomach problems. These sprouts are better tolerated if they are briefly steamed or cooked in a dish.

Sunflower seeds

Sunflower sprouts are very yummy and nutty-mild in taste and are also easy to grow and well suited for beginners.

Gelly seeds

Some seeds form a gel-like layer when they come into contact with water. These include linseed, chia, psyllium, rocket and cress. You should always put them sprouting trays with water draining down or on soil or fleece in a flower pot. You can also put them in sprouting jars if you mix them with half seeds that are not slime-forming.
The shoots of Chia, flax and psyllium seeds have a mild taste. Rucola and cress sprouts have a fine peppery note due to the very healthy mustard oil glucosides they contain.

Green herbs or green shoots

For green shoots, i.e. sprouts that have already grown a bit larger than a seedling, you may best use sunflower seeds, buckwheat, sugar peas and mung beans as well as barley or wheatgrass.
It takes a little longer to harvest, but the green sprouts usually develop a mild taste and are well suited as a salad or for straining.

Green sprouts are best grown in seed shells in soil or on fleece.