How to Start Sprouting Beans & Sprouted Garbanzo Bean Salad Recipe

How to Start Sprouting Beans & Sprouted Garbanzo Bean Salad Recipe

By Danielle Hart

There’s nothing like the crunch of a bean sprout to add crisp, fresh flavor to stir fry or salad. Yet the packaged varieties are sometimes expensive, and are often already starting wilt on the store shelves. With a little patience and some simple tools, you can make your own sprouted beans at home!

Most people think of mung bean sprouts when they think of sprouted beans – those are the long white sprouts that sometimes have little green or yellow leaves at the end. But I’ve used this method with other beans. Garbanzo beans, kidney beans, and lentils work quite well.

Mung bean sprouts are what people typically associate with sprouting beans.

Sprouting doesn’t require sunshine or soil, and can be done at any time of the year. To sprout, you will just need a mason jar with a cap (that’s the circular part that keeps the lid on), and instead of using a lid, you’ll add a mesh screen or piece of cheesecloth where the lid should go. Most health food stores, as well as some hardware stores and craft stores, regularly stock these tools.

Fill the mason jar no more than 1/2 full with beans – they need room to grow! Rinse and strain the beans three or four times, then turn it upside down to drain, letting it rest at an angle. Repeat the rinsing (just one time) and draining two to three times a day, until your sprout starts to come out!
Sprouts appearing in garbanzo beans.

From there you can try eating a bean each time you rinse, to test them until they are done to your liking. When they are done, you’ll want to keep them in the fridge and eat them in the next few days.

Sprouted Garbanzo Bean Salad Recipe
(serves 1-2)

1 cup sprouted garbanzo beans
1 tablespoon red onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon parsley, finely chopped
1 teaspoon strong dijon mustard
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
sea salt and pepper to taste

Combine and adjust as desired – a little more vinegar or oil to your taste.

Why Begin Sprouting Beans? Sprouting, Nutrition and Digestion

Like soaking, sprouting reduces the phytates in beans. Phytates are substances found in beans that can
limit how well we absorb certain minerals, like iron, zinc, calcium and manganese. Sprouting beans also makes the protein in them more digestible.

Beyond the benefits of nutrition and cost-saving, sprouting beans is fun! Each time you rinse your beans you will look for those little sprouts to appear, and it’s exciting when they do. It’s a great DIY project for kids and adults to help you get more involved in the food you eat. Enjoy!

 

Danielle Hart, MS Holistic Nutrition, is a holistic nutrition consultant and the Editor in Chief of ENJI Daily, a free online wellness magazine updated daily with the latest research, healthy recipes, and fitness and lifestyle tips. Connect with ENJI Daily on Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ to get stories the world’s top health experts share with their millions of followers!

Danielle’s mission is to help individuals navigate the vast (and sometimes contradictory) world of wellness information, and to inspire change. Her practice website and blog is available at HartHolistic.com.