April 13, 2015 · Written by Foodtolive Team
Sprouting Seeds and Beans: a Guide for Beginners
It is no secret that consuming large amounts of beans and seeds can cause indigestion. In some extreme cases, a diet overladen with them can lead to deficiencies of essential minerals and vitamins.
This happens because beans and seeds must remain dormant for extended periods of time. To protect them, nature-filled them with enzyme inhibitors and phytic acid (the latter prevents seeds from being eaten by mammals). Once they are released from these binding protections, both seeds and beans become one of the healthiest foods you can have. However, they only shed these protective layers when they start to sprout. The purpose of sprouting beans and seeds at home is to make them easy to digest and take all the valuable nutrients these foods have to offer.
The process of sprouting includes two stages:
Stage #1: Soaking
Regardless of whether you choose to sprout your seeds or beans or simply cook them, soaking is an essential part of either process. At this stage, harmful toxins contained in this products are neutralized and phytic acid is dissolved. Note that the overwhelming majority of manufacturers skip soaking. As a result, the products they offer are difficult to digest and might need to be avoided if you suffer from certain stomach problems or want to lose weight. On average, it takes about 7 hours of soaking to turn any seeds and bean into the healthy foods they should be.
Stage #2: Sprouting
If soaking destroys the vast majority of toxins, sprouting enriches the seeds and beans with precious nutrients. To give you a better idea of how much more beneficial sprouts are when compared to non-sprouted seeds consider the following numbers: vitamin A content doubles, B-vitamin and vitamin C content increases by five to ten times. The same happens with proteins, calcium, iron, and especially zinc. Sprouted seeds are one of the richest natural sources of zinc, and the best thing is the fact that all these nutrients are highly digestible. In order to get your seeds to sprout, you need to keep them damp after they’ve been soaking for 7-10 hours. You should rinse them at least twice a day and keep them in a jar covered with a piece of cloth (cotton is the best for this purpose) tied by a piece of string. Since the seeds need to stay damp, airing them is imperative if you want to prevent them going moldy. Your sprouts are ready when the length of the root of the sprout is the same as the length of the seed.
Sponsored by Food to live
To ensure that your sprouting is successful, you need to use high quality fresh seeds suitable for this purpose. We offer a wide range of seeds, beans, and nuts for sprouting in our store. Take a look at the catalog and make your diet healthier by including some highly nutritious sprouts.
