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Show Sprouts: Instant Fresh Vegetables While waiting impatiently for this summer's first garden vegetables, the best source of fresh vegetable vitamins and minerals is most readily obtained from home-grown sprouts. Many vitamins are highly perishable, dissipating shortly after a vegetable is picked. For that reason, sprouts alone guarantee that through the winter months no one will suffer from vitamin deficiencies. Contrary to recent slams in the 10 o'clock Whistle, alfalfa sprouts do have a distinctive taste. For less discerning palates, however, there are a variety of spicy sprouts. Radish and chia sprouts in particular when mixed with alfalfa lend a peppery kick to a batch of alfalfa sprouts. In general, sprouts are served more for texture and nourishment than taste alone. They add crunch to sandwiches, color to salads and background flavor to stir-fried vegetables and seafood. Growing a batch of sprouts takes between 3-5 days. Cover the bottom of a quart jar with an assortment of sprout seeds. The seeds should just cover the bottom. Like popcorn it's easy to under-estimate the volume of the finished product. Fill the jar with room temperature tempera-ture water. Set aside in a dark place overnight. Cut a fine screen to fit the top of the mason jar securing it with the outside ring of a canning lid. Rinse the sprout seeds by pouring off the water through the screen and rerinse with fresh water. Set the jar on its side or tilted bottom up in a drawer or cupboard. Rinse one or two times a day until all the seeds have sprouted then place the jar near a sunny window to green off. Use them as soon as possible storing leftover sprouts in the refrigerator. |