San Diego Nutrition and Health

In my last blog I wrote about eating sprouted mung beans for breakfast and included the recipe I had created.  This is all fine and dandy if you know how to sprout mung beans.  If you don’t, the recipe wouldn’t do you any good.  So, here are the directions on how to sprout mung beans. 

Note: You should be able to buy mung beans at your local health food store.  Some conventional grocery stores may carry them as well. 

1.  Before going to bed, measure 1 cup of mung beans into a small-holed strainer and rinse with water. 

2.  Put the rinsed beans in a 2-quart glass jar.  (The Mason canning jars work really well or you could use a clean pickle or mayonnaise jar.)

3.  Fill the jar 3/4 of the way full with warm water.

4.  Let the beans soak overnight.

5.  The next morning, drain the water from the beans.  Rinse with clean water and drain again.

6.  Lay the jar on its side and cover with a kitchen towel to keep the beans in a dark environment.  (The beans will be wet, but there shouldn’t be a lot of excess water in the jar.)

7.  If you are able, rinse the beans with clean water a couple of time throughout the day.  If you are working during the day and not at home, no problem.  Just rinse them when you get home. 

8.  Depending on the humidity and temperature of your home, your beans may be done sprouting by the end of the day, or you may need to leave them overnight.  If you leave them overnight, rinse them before you go to bed and again when you wake up.  The sprouts are done when you see a little white tail growing out of the beans.  Some beans will have a long tail, others a short one.  The length of the tail doesn’t matter. 

9.  When your beans are done sprouting, rinse them a final time and either eat them or put them in a covered container in the fridge to use in the future.  The sprouts will stay good in the fridge for 3-4 days. 

You can follow these same directions for sprouting lentils which are another one of my sprout favorites. 

Happy sprouting!