Sprouting - Steps 1 and 2

The first time I tried this I was so successful I could have cried. Somewhere along the line though, I forgot about sprouting.

Then just before Christmas I started looking up raw food practises, since my one child is craving raw veggies and refusing cooked ones, I thought I would take up sprouting again and take it to the next level by learning how to make bread from the sprouted items.

I bought some organic mung beans, kidney beans, navy beans, buckwheat and millet. I was so excited I was beside myself. Just thinking about the wonderful things I would soon be making made my insides quiver with delight.

Well, the only thing I succeeded in growing was mould.

I was bereft.

Then Christmas came and I was just too busy to sit down and figure out where I went wrong.

This morning, a friend e-mailed me to ask if I had baked with cooked grain, indeed I had. Then she e-mailed me to ask if I had baked with sprouted grain. And so I was inspired to try again. It turns out that my possible errors were:

1) soaking for too long
2) rinsing and draining only once a day when twice may be required

So, here I will start again and post photos after I find the camera that I think my three year old hid somewhere:

1. Soak the grain or seed for 24 hours. Rinse and refill with fresh water morning and night.

2. Rinse, drain, spread evenly on a pie dish. Cover with a kitchen towel. Do this morning and night.

If you don't rinse and drain morning and night, you have a good chance of growing mold.

***WARNING!!!
Kidney beans should never be eaten raw, unboiled or undercooked. There is a chemical in them that has killed people.

Kidney beans (sprouted or not) need to be:
1) soaked for at least 8 hours
2) brought to a full boil for 15 minutes
3) simmered until they are fully soft and creamy throughout (approx. 1 hour)

Kidney beans should never be eaten 'al dente' or with any firmness in their meat.

Slow cookers will not achieve a high enough temperature to render kidney beans safe to eat. However, after boiling the beans, they can be simmered in a slow cooker.