Jar Sprouting
Massive Nutrient Dose Cheaply and with Little Space!
I’ve begun sprouting my own non-GMO, organic, heirloom seeds in order to inject my daily regimen with some even higher-powered nutrient density. No matter what you’re doing and where you’re at, you can easily add this to your routine and heal yourself. I’m specifically interested because I’m healing from a severe and late-stage auto-immune disorder and Epstein Barr, but anyone can use this nutrient boost because most of our food is tainted, overly processed, and lacking in nutrients for a variety of mass-produced reasons. Read about other options to implement on your healing journey, if you want to do more than just sprout — otherwise, read on!
I’m so excited about sprouting, I’ve already added True Leaf’s awesome products to my ‘Favorite Things’ page on the site and have begun an affiliate relationship with True Leaf Market because they are small, family owned, high quality, and have been at it for 50 years! That’s my kind of place to support and I’d love it if you support what I do by using the affiliate links here in order to get all your sprouting supplies. Thank you!
The first step isn’t even getting the seeds and sprouting supplies — it’s getting a water purification method underway in your household! If you’ve already got that, carry on. Otherwise, stop now and get this distiller. I have one myself, use it daily, and promote it because it is the best one I could find, all stainless steel or glass when in contact with the water, and for the cheapest amount of money. Use coupon code “rogueways” to get a huge discount.
Alternately, it is nice to have a Berkey filter with the flouride filters added. This way, you can literally go grab any water in an emergency and drink it, even from a mud puddle. Water from the Berkey or the Distiller is great and it can be good to have both, as I do, in case of power outage and just because I use a lot of water. Other regular filters like those on your fridge, Brita, or Zero filters are kind of garbage. They’re better than nothing, but they’re not filtering out the worst shit and you want HEALTH, not further poisoning.
Once you know you’ll have good water to support your process, make sure you also have some quart jars, mesh screen tops, metal stands for draining, and the seeds you’re most interested in. I went with the Health Blend from True Leaf Market and got my jars, tops and stands from them, as well.
I mixed two tablespoons of my True Leaf Market ‘Health Blend’ non-GMO organic seeds into a quart jar with the mesh screen sprouting attachments and filled the jar with purified water. It is best to do this in the morning or afternoon, as the seeds only want to soak for 8 hours. I kind of forgot and left mine for 14 hours and they’re still sprouting fine, but let’s try not to push our luck! It is also best for some seeds to be in a dark space during this and the next day or two, so if you’d like you can keep them in a cupboard for the 8 hour soak and the next two days of rinsing, which we’ll get to next.
Now that your 2 tblsp of seeds are soaking in the dark or on an indirect sun windowsill for 8 hours, you’re on to the next step. Do not ever place your seeds and sprouts in the direct sun as it is too much for their delicate little bodies and they’ll die.
Drain the water and spread the seeds out along the sides of the jar and set up to stand with plenty of air flow and drainage. You’ll see excellent pictures of these steps after this, as you’ll repeat this part a few times a day for the next few days.
Your seeds have soaked for 8 hours and been drained, now you’ll rinse them and set them out to grow! They are set upside down with plenty of air flow room to circulate air and to drip out excess moisture. You don’t want them too clumped or too moist, nor do you want them too dry. Don’t worry, they take care of themselves if you just follow these steps, but those are the principles of the process.
Get your pure water in whatever you best like to pour from because you’ll pour that water into the jars of seeds and sprouts in order to give them a good bath. This is why the mesh tops are so cool: they can both receive and let out air and water over and over and make your life easier.
At first, the water won’t need to fill the jar, so long as there’s enough to have reached all the seeds and sprouts and really rinse them well. As they grow, you’ll need to fill the jar to cover them all, but they’re just babies for the first few days.
Swish those little baby seeds and sprouts around and around to really agitate them well and remove any residue so they will be clean and won’t begin to rot. This is done after the initial 8 hour soak, then done at least twice to at most four times a day each day from here on out. Most seeds are sprouted and ready to eat within 4-7 days.
After their rinse, pour out the water through the mesh top and let the excess drip away before you re-spread the seeds and sprouts as evenly as you can manage along the jar walls. I just do this by turning and lightly shaking until I get a good spread. You don’t need to reach in or touch them, just kind of shake them lightly around.
Now they’re ready to go to their sill, if you are either doing it there all along or are done with the first day or two in the dark of a cupboard or windowless pantry space. Wherever you’re keeping your sprout jars, make sure to prop them on the stainless steel props you got from True Leaf Market or elsewhere, or on another type of jar prop you have.
I keep this towel under, as some moisture may continue to drip out, but please make sure the towel is thin or doesn’t bunch, as a bunched towel can block your air flow.
We are doing two jars at a time, expecting that the two of us get one cup of sprouts per day from this rotation. Your space, family, needs and timing may be different, so plan accordingly.
The little stand is more than enough to allow air in and out of the jar and to allow moisture to drain out and be caught in the smooth, thin towel below.
This is my first batch, so you’re seeing a work in progress — but I will post updates here as the sprouts mature! Your seed mix will tell you how many days before it is ready to eat, and you’ll also see the readiness when the sprouts are long and green leafed. Plus, you’ll see your jar is FULL of sprouts and there’s no room left!
When you see this and know it is time, somewhere around day five or so, give those sprouts one final soak in pure water, scoop out any unsprouted seeds with a strainer, rinse in pure water, and lay out on a towel to dry a minute. Now you can eat your nutritious, homegrown, organic, high nutrient, GMO free deliciousness in a salad or other dish and keep the leftovers in the fridge.
Enjoy your achievement and your health and come back for future posts on the outcome and some recipes, too!