We eat them because they’re delicious – especially when grown fresh at home. But they also have a number of health benefits. They are considered a superfood after all.
They are high in Vitamin K, they contain other vitamins and minerals, they may help to lower cholesterol and improve metabolic health, and more. The best part is, they also add a nice touch to sandwiches and salads.
So where to start?
You’ll need a glass jar, fresh water and some alfalfa seeds. We use a quart size mason jar and a couple of screened plastic lids for it, one fine and one a bit more coarse. Links to all of these can be found below. Once you have what you need, it is super easy. Just follow these steps:
Day One
Measure 2 tablespoons of seeds and add them to the jar. Cover with room-temperature fresh water. Put the fine-mesh lid on the jar and let it sit on the counter making sure it remains out of direct sunlight. Then just leave it soaking overnight.
Day Two
Pour the water out through the mesh screen lid, then remove the lid and rinse thoroughly with fresh room-temperature water. Replace the lid and pour the water off. We usually do this step a couple of times just to make sure the water remaining on the seeds is really good and fresh.
Once you’ve poured the water off, turn the jar on its side and rotate it to distribute the seeds around the inside walls of the jar. Lay the jar on its side and leave it until day three – again making sure it’s not in direct sunlight.
Day Three
You may see tiny white sprouts emerging from the seeds. Repeat all the steps from day two washing and rinsing with fresh water and then rotating the jar to distribute the seeds around the inside walls of the jar. You will be repeating these steps for the next several days.
Day Four
They’re really starting to grow now. Do the steps again: Rinse, Drain, Repeat. At this point, you may have trouble “sticking” the sproutlings to the walls of the jar, and they may instead fall in a clump at the bottom. Don’t worry, this is normal and you really don’t want them sticking to the jar anyway – they’ll be easier to remove without sticking.
Day Five
This is a good time to switch lids if you have one that is more coarse as it will make draining off the water much easier. And the sprouts are large enough now that they won’t escape through the larger mesh.
Again: Rinse, Drain, Repeat.
Day Six
At this point you can probably go ahead and eat them if you want, but we like to give them one more day, just to fully fill up the jar. So once again: Rinse, Drain, Repeat and wait for one more day.
Day Seven
After seven days, your jar should be full to nearly overflowing and the sprouts are ready to eat, just give them a good final rinse first. If you don’t see much green on them, you can remove them from the jar and lay them on a towel in direct sunlight for about 15 minutes to “green them up” a bit if you want.
Then put them back into the jar and keep them in the fridge between meals.
But not before you put some of them on your favorite sandwich, salad or one of my favorites – a Coney Island Chili Dog complete with diced red onions and shredded cheddar cheese. Alfalfa sprouts take this one over the top.
You can also grow other varieties of sprouts like this. Another of our favorites are Mung Bean sprouts. These are what you find as “bean sprouts” in the grocery store, and they’re great in pad thai and other asian dishes.
Recommended Products
Here are some links for you to choose from depending on your preferences:
(Note: This post contains affiliate links. We may earn compensation when you click on the links at no additional cost to you.)
Alfalfa Seeds
Salad Mix Seeds
Mung Bean (Bean Sprouts) Seeds
Screened Lids for Wide-Mouth Mason Jars
Dual Jar Sprouting Kit
Single Jar Sprouting Kit
So get yourself set up and then rinse, drain and repeat your way to some superfood yum!