Sprouts & Sprouting Starter Guide | Learn to Grow Sprouts

Sprouts & Sprouting Growing Guide

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How to Grow Sprouts

The Sprout Garden Tray Method:


  • Use ¼ cup of small seeds or ½ cup of large seeds. Soak for 8-10 hours and then drain.
  • Transfer seeds to the sprouting tray, the one with a center hole and several tiny drain holes on the bottom edges. Spread the seeds evenly so they have plenty of room to grow.
  • Rinse and drain, gently agitating the seeds so they all get exposed to water. Cover with the cover tray and repeat rinsing and draining process twice a day.
  • Once your seeds have sprouted ¼ to 1-inch tails, they are ready to eat! Optionally, for sprouts like alfalfa and broccoli, place in direct sunlight for a few hours for added “greening”.
  • You can have several sprout crops growing at once. Just stack the sprout tray and cover it to create your own sprout tower. Try timing it right so when one crop is consumed, another is ready for harvest!
  • Store sprouts for several days by drying them with a paper towel and placing in an air-tight container in your vegetable bin. Sprouts risk freezing if stored wet.


  • The Sprout Jar Method:


  • For a quart jar, use ¼ cup of small seeds or ½ cup of large (double the seed amount for a half-gallon jar). Pour seeds in jar then fill with water and let soak for 8-10 hours.
  • Drain out all the soak water. Place jar in a bowl out of direct sunlight. Place your bowl and jar in a space with good airflow. Stagnate air may cause your sprouts to spoil.
  • Rinse seeds 2-3 times daily. Keep jar at an angle to allow air to flow in and out of the jar through the sprout lid. This also allows excess water to drain.
  • When sprout "tails" are between ¼ and 1 inch in length, they are ready to eat! Thoroughly rinse before eating and remove any debris such as discarded hulls.
  • Place sprouts such as alfalfa, broccoli, and clover, in direct sunlight for a few hours. This optional process is called "greening" and it allowsthe sprouts to acquire chlorophyll through photosynthesis, which gives sprouts added color and nutrients.
  • Store sprouts for several days by drying with a paper towel and placing in an air-tight container in your vegetable bin. Sprouts risk freezing if stored wet.
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    I'm Just Starting Out: Where Do I Begin?

    While there are several techniques to grow sprouts that you will eventually want to experiment with, the simplest and best way to get started in sprouting is our basic sprouting kit. It provides everything you need to start growing your own sprouts. It includes our favorite tray sprouter, a great selection of organic sprouting seeds and easy to follow instructions.


    Basic Tray Sprouting Kit

    The Basic Tray Sprouting Kit includes our favorite sprouter, and is perfect for beginners.

    3 Jar Sprouting Kit

    The 3 Jar Sprouting Kit is a great way to sample many different types of sprouts.

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    Why Sprouts?

    Sprouts are nutritious, living foods that are both delicious and versatile.

    Nutrition: Sprouts have been called a miracle food and nature’s most perfect food. They are rich in vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, fiber, essential fatty acids, amino acids, and protein.

    International Sprout Growers Association

    Sprouts are filling and also low in calories (a cup of alfalfa sprouts has under 20 calories). Bean sprouts have about as much protein as cooked meat. The living protein and presence of amino acids make the protein in sprouts easier to digest and more bio available than protein in meat, and of course, much cheaper too.

    Living Whole Food: Sprouts contain the most vital nutrient there is: life. Sprouts are an all-natural, living whole food that is still growing when you consume them. There aren’t many foods in the world that are more alive than sprouts at the point of consumption. During the harvest season, you might get truly living foods by eating freshly picked fruits or vegetables from your garden, but sprouts provide an easy way to add truly living foods to your diet all year long. Learn more about raw vs. living foods.

    Delicious: Sprouts so delicious that even kids love them. The taste of foods, and how healthy they are, seem to be inversely proportional. The better something tastes the worse it is for you and the worse it tastes the better it is for you. Sprouts are different! There aren’t many foods that are as good for you as sprouts and still taste great.

    Versatile: Use sprouts as a straight snack, in a sprout salad, and as an addition to more traditional salads. Sprouts are great in a stir-fry, soups, and garnishes. Sprouts can be juiced or blended in smoothie. Our bean salad sprouting mix with a little lemon juice is a fast meal within itself.

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    Why Grow My Own?

    Fun: Growing your own sprouts is easy and fun and doesn’t take much effort. You can grow sprouts right on your kitchen countertop in only 3 days. Best of all there is no “in-season” for sprouts. Sprouts can be grown all year long. You don’t need a green thumb, any fancy or expensive equipment or specialized knowledge. Our sprouters and sprouting kits make sprouting a fulfilling and fun experience.

    Inexpensive: Buying pre-grown sprouts in the grocery store is an expensive route. Grocery store sprouts can run as high as $1.50 per ounce. Growing your own, you can produce most sprouts for well under 10 Cents per ounce. It goes without saying that sprouts you grow yourself will be much fresher than anything you buy from a grocery store.

    Food Storage: Add a sprouter and some sprouting seeds to your long term emergency supplies. If the worst happens, you will be grateful for an easy way to add healthy, green living foods to your diet.

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    Is It Difficult to Grow My Own Sprouts?

    Growing your own sprouts is very easy. All you need is a sprouter and sprouting seed. The technique varies a little depending on the sprouter you are using but the basic steps are simple:

    1. Soak: start by soaking your sprouting seeds for about eight hours.
    2. Rinse: rinse your soaked seeds and put them in your sprouter. Give the seeds a rinse two or three times a day
    3. Enjoy: after about three days your sprouts will be ready.
    All of our sprouters and sprouting kits come with easy step by step instructions and troubleshooting advice. We also provide sprouting help via email.
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    I'm Ready to Get More Serious About Sprouting, Any Advice?

    Experiment with Different Sprouting Methods: There are lots of different ways to grow your own sprouts:

    Tray Method – By far our favorite way to grow sprouts, the tray method has many benefits:

    • Stackable – if you are space conscious you can grow up and save counter space
    • Multiple Crops – You can easily grow multiple different crops simultaneously.
    • Staggered Crops – Stagger the start times to have sprouts ready to eat all the time.
    • Quantity Control – Great way to grow large or small quantities as you need.
    grow large quatities and many different varieties of organic sprouts

    We offer 3 different tray sprouters, but our favorite by far is the Handy Pantry Sprout Garden.

    Jar MethodSprouting jars are just mason jars with a strainer lid for rinsing. Jars are probably the least expensive sprouter and work fine for growing smaller quantities of sprouts.

    Sack Method – The sack method is popular for travel, camping and RV uses. The sack method works best on larger sprouts like pea, garbanzo, adzuki, and mung.

    Automatic SproutersAutomatic sprouters are more expensive and are really designed for those looking to grow larger quantities of sprouts. The main benefit of automatic sprouters is they eliminate the need to periodically rinse sprouts by hand.

    Experiment with Different Sprouting Seeds: We offer dozens of different types of sprouting seeds and seed mixes that can add amazing variety to your diet. Be sure to check out our Sprouting Seed Super Sampler.

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    Any Ideas or Recipes Using Sprouts?

    Absolutely! Look:

    Creative use of sprouts

    Recipies using sprouts

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