Sprouting

My mom has been experimenting with sprouting. She has a sprouting kit but she told me I could do it with a canning jar, a canning ring, and a clean cut-up nylon. I got online and found this site. And, I've been trying it out.

In one jar I used 1/2 cup white wheat (soaked overnight in water beforehand) and in the other jar 1/2 cup dry lentils (soaked about 4-5 hours in water beforehand). I only soaked the lentils about 4-5 hours because they started to crack open and I wondered if they had had enough water.

I've been rinsing them twice a day as instructed. The nylon assists with draining the water.

My mom told me to cover them up to limit sunlight.



Here are the lentil sprouts after 12 hours. After 2 days, their tails were about 1/2 inch long.



The wheat didn't progress as quickly as the lentils (photo at 12 hours). The wheat tails were about 1/4 inch after 2 days.

What I've learned so far:

• After 2 days, the lentils have expanded and now fill 3/4 of the canning jar. I suspect that my initial 1/2 cup of dry lentils was too much to begin with. They are not finished sprouting yet, so I anticipate that I'll have to remove some.
  
  
• The lentil sprouts taste a lot like the typical salad sprouts that you buy in the store (alfalfa?) I like the taste and want to try using them on salads or in wraps.
  
  
• Wheat sprouts taste like wheat. So far I'm not too impressed with their taste.
  
  
• Mung beans are the type of sprouts used in Chinese dishes. So, now I'm on the hunt for mung beans. Blue Chip Group sells them in bulk (in Salt Lake). I am hoping to find a distributor closer, maybe at a specialty store.