Monday, January 25, 2010

Sprouting--Wheat grass

I have been making my own sprouts for a while. I started with wheat, which--in my opinion--is the easiest thing to sprout. From what I understand, sprouted wheat is the most nutritious and nutrient rich way to consume wheat. I eat wheat sprouts in salads or ground up in bread, muffins, or some other baked concoction. I have always just used a cookie sheet and some paper towels for sprouting.
Last summer I decided to bite the bullet and invest about 15 dollars in a "Master Sprouter". I have since taken on sprouting beans, seeds, and other grains. It is sometimes an adventure. I think broccoli sprouts are rather strong smelling and must be kept WELL DRAINED.
The picture below is some wheat grass I grew in a cookie sheet. I was inspired to try it when my family and I stopped at a Jamba Juice during our holiday travels and I saw that people charge almost three dollars for a small shot of wheat grass juice. I feel I had success growing it, but I don't have a juicer. I blended the wheat grass in a smoothie and it was a waste of a perfectly good blueberry banana smoothie. :( The smoothie was yummy, but the wheat grass...blah!

The process for growing is easy. You need a pan with shallow sides (this makes it easy for draining). Some paper towels, a couple cups of wheat and a vegetable sprayer or water bottle is a plus.
Line the pan with a layer of paper towels. Rinse wheat thoroughly, then spread wheat berries onto paper towel. Cover with another layer of paper towels. Moisten towels. Keep them moist for a couple of days.
After a couple of days you will have wheat sprouts. Once sprouts grow little green grass starts, remove the top paper towel. Now just rinse and thoroughly drain the little seedlings every morning and night. Once it grows fairly tall, you can trim it for use. If you keep it well drained and trimmed it will last for several clippings.

If anyone has a great way to consume wheat grass or its juice, please, do share!

6 comments:

  1. Ok, girlie, let me get this straight: you grow these little sprouties, clip 'em and either put the grass portion (the shaft of the wheat that would otherwise grow to a lovely head of wheat, right?) into bread or a salad or anything else your heart desires.

    Is that it?

    I've not tried that. So I'm excited to have the instructions. I did hear that consuming the broccoli sprouts wards off all kinds of cancer. It's particularly effective against prostate cancer, but the actual scientific study on broccoli sprouts and colon as well as prostate cancers were sponsorred by, you guessed it, a big old Broccoli Sprouts growing company.

    Maybe some wheatgrass lasagna?

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  2. Well, I grow sprouts, grind up the little sprouts(no grass yet) and eat those in all kinds of salads and baked goods. The actual grass I have only tried adding to smoothies. If you try the grass in culinary dishes, please let me know how it turns out!

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  3. Do you have to always grind up the sprouts to use them in salads and baked goods? I wasn't aware of that (Nor was I aware of most of this stuff about sprouts!) so please clarify.

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  4. I have to agree with you on the taste, I stick to other sprouting eventhough I know how good for me it is. I think its great though that you sprout. Not many people do it.

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  5. No you don't have to grind up the sprouts. You can consume them however you want to. I generally like to grind them when I put them in bread...it's a sneaky way of getting more nutrients into my family without them knowing it. ;)

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  6. Very cool upgrades! But when I clicked on (I particularly like the orange titles, btw!) I didn't see your "Tigger" picture. I was almost upset, until I noticed that it just moved down.

    Great picture of you and Ryan at the top, though! :)

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