Dumb blonde question - bean sprouts

soappie

I'm going to show how really dumb I can be at times in this posts.

What beans do I buy to make bean sprouts? Do I just get dried mung or alfafa beans and start them off? I've got all confused because when I was in town yesterday, I popped into the health food shop and asked them for some "beans for sprouting". She said they didn't really do them until the summer.

thriftlady_2

I use mung beans from Tesco (little green ones), you can use alfalfa too and there are lots of others I believe.

This is what I do;
2 tbsp of mung beans in a big storage jar
cover with water and leave overnight.
Fasten a piece of muslin (available in squares from cook shops) over the neck of the jar with a rubber band.A piece of tights does as well.
Drain water away and put in a cupboard on its side.
3 times a day rinse water through the beans letting it drain through the muslin.
They start sprouting within 2 days. Carry on rinsing until they are as long as you want.
Takes about 3 days

soappie

Thanks Thriftlady,

I thought I could use the dried beans from Tesco but wanted to check as the Health Food Shop lady totally confused me.

I shall get some this weekend. We have stirfry once a week and the cost of beansprouts in Tesco now is getting ridiculous!

How long can you keep them growing?

[Deleted User]

here you are

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=134746&highlight=sprouting

aduki/mung needs a more room and more rinsing so use fewer seeds that you think. Alfalfa are the easiest and most nutritious

Seakay

Mung beans are the ones that you would buy ready sprouted for stirfrys, but once you getinto it then you may want to experiment.
Alfafa seed sprouts are nice in salads and sandwiches, as are radish seed sprout and mustard seed sprouts.
Small seeds, such as alfafa, mustard, radish, can also be grown on the window sill in trays or pots using a very small amount of compost, like the mustard and cress you buy in small white plastic boxes, and used in the same way.

soappie

Well, I've bought meself some organic mung beans from a different health food shop that I went into yesterday.

I shall set some going this evening.

kethry

if it helps.. Wilkinsons are starting their garden stuff again, and i popped in today, noticed they were selling all kinds of seeds for sprouting, alfalfa, fenugreek i think and including mung beans (which make beansprouts) - £1.12, if i remember right (it was definetly less than £2) for a large packet.

not organic though.

HTH

keth
xx