"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free"

Michelangelo



Sunday, October 2, 2011

Sprouting!

When I first learned about sprouting, it seemed like the hardest thing to do, but it's super easy.  Not to mention super good for your birds as well.  I like to sprout wheatberries, mung beans, and rye berries.  I do switch it up now and then though for their palette.  It's totally good for humans too.  I don't eat it, but that's ok :)  I do try it just to see what it tastes like.  It's not bad, but I'm just not a healthy eater.  Anyway!

Wheatberries
   
Mung beans
  
Rye berries

I rinse them and let them soak in some water mixed with a bit of apple cider for a couple of minutes.  I use the organic one with "the mother" as I read it's better to use.  Then I rinse them again really well.




I let them soak overnight or for 8-12 hours in just plain water.   I cover up the jar with coffee filter and a rubber band to keep it closed. 




After they are done soaking, I rinse them again and put them back into their jars.  I put them them on a plate that is tilted so that the water drains.  Every 6-9 hours (usually cuz I'm at work), I take out the seeds, rinse, and put them back in here in this same position until they are sprouted.  It doesn't take that long before they do sprout.



Here are the Mung beans after they sprouted.  They were the first ones to sprout compared to the other two.  They grew fast!  I came home from work and bam!  Tails were this long.  It was crazy.  I usually catch them before they grow this long.  

A few days later:

I mix it in with their birdie mash and sprinkle it with spirulina and wheatgrass powder (not too much of these two, really just a dash of it) along w/ ground flax seeds and probiotics (make sure you get an avian one.  I ordered mine from Avitech).  

As you can see, my fids love sprouts!  They eat it like candy.  They prefer it to their mashed human food.  And it's super healthy for them too. 


How I keep my sprouts is that I damp a coffee filter with water and put that on the bottom of my food storage container to keep it moist.  I keep it in my fridge for no longer than a week.  I also rinse it throughout the week as well.  You must make sure your sprouts are fresh.  Some people make theirs every other day.  I find that mine are fine for up to about a week.  They look fine after a week, but for personal reasons I toss them out after that if there are any left in the container.  There normally isn't much left anyway.  When I measure the dry beans/seeds, I don't do too much because when it sprouts, there is a lot!  I'd rather use too little and have to make a fresh batch every 3-4 days than to make too much and waste it.  

If you want to learn more about sprouting, a good website to check out is: http://www.landofvos.com/articles/sprouts.html  Everyone does it a little differently and this is just how I've always done mine.

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