Some of the best and most affordable foods to eat fall under the categories of beans and legumes. And the cheapest way to buy them is dried. But as you probably have noticed, eating them when they're rock hard doesn't work all that well. So that leaves two options: soaking or sprouting.
Soaking is great, and the method that I've always used. When I first started soaking dried beans it drove me a little nuts, because I couldn't just say "I want beans" and have them magically ready. The thing about soaking beans is you need to leave them over night. It takes practically no effort on your part, but its not instantaneous. Truthfully though, its totally worth it. You'll save A LOT of money and you just need to get used to thinking about your meals a little ahead of time. Plus, if you soak a whole bunch, you can just stick some in the freezer and keep them for ages without the risk (or rather unavoidable certainty) of spoilage.
But soaking beans is not what this post is about. Today I wanted to talk about sprouting them [for food, not too make more beans :) ]. I first became interested in sprouting beans when I began looking into the world of raw veganism, a practice that intrigues me although I have yet to fully try it. The really cool thing about sprouting beans and grains is that you don't need to cook them. The frustrating part is that it takes more than just a night. I'll admit that I haven't tried it very many times, and I did get a little frustrated at first, but it turned out to be really fun. The key is to figure out a method that works. So I'll give you a few tips (and pictures) and hopefully send you on your merry way with the encouragement to try it out, even if just for fun. I really encourage you to try it out because if you haven't thought much about where your food comes from/ what it is, then sprouting will blow your mind. I'm sure if you're reading this you at least have some basic understanding of how plants grow. But this is a way to really understand and feel the connection between a seed and what's on your plate:
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| Alex the cat wanted to be in the picture too! |
1. Get some beans! The beans are going to swell a lot, so just keep that in mind when you choose how many to use.
2. Find a jar and a bowl and something to cover the jar with that will keep the beans from falling out (you're going to invert it in the bowl) but that water can leak through. I used an old stocking.
3. Soak the beans over night.
4. Drain the soaked beans, rinse them, drain them again and put them in the jar. If they fill the jar up more than halfway you definitely need a bigger jar!
5. Then cover the jar with the mesh, or stocking, or whatever material you're using to keep them in there. And put the jar upside down sitting in the bowl, which will catch the water draining out. I keep the jar at an angle so that the water can actually drain out.
5. Over then next few days they'll begin to sprout. Two or three times a day you should rinse them and pretty soon you'll be good to go.
Another way to do this, and easier now that I think about it, is to forget about the jar and just have the beans sitting in a strainer over a bowl. Unfortunately though, I can't do this in my current house because I have a cat who loves to eat things. But if you don't I would strongly recommend just using a stainer.
