Types of seeds for bean-sprouts

[ChrisGreaves]

I started a new thread because I wanted the other one to be more on the mechanics of sprouting for newbies.

But back to the topic - I'll look for mung beans when I am out shopping for food items.

Good for you. Don't spend more than $1 to experiment. (later) This post suggests that $6 gets me 1/2 a years supply of sprouts!, about $1/month

Supermarket shelves near "spices" or the dried beans section, they come in 3-inch square, 1/2 inch thick cellophane packets hanging from a 'ook by a 'ole in the cardboard clamp. You've seen 'em.
Health-food stores ditto, IMHE.
Bulk-Food stores ("Bulk Barn" in and around Toronto) huge bins where you could grab enough mung beans in a plastic shopping bag to keep the crew healthy on a trip to Mars.
Then there's farm-supply places such as Queensville Farm Supply serving Ontario There's a story here and I'll keep it short: I bought two tubs of cat-grass 15 months ago; turns out it was oat-grass; I asked around at Green-Connections and was directed to Queensville. "Sure!" said the nice lady on the phone, she could postal-mail me 2 lbs, but it'd cost; better to drive up. Now who wants to spring $16,000 to buy a car to feed cats grass, right, so for about $12 she popped 2 lbs oat seeds in a bag and walked across to the post office. That works out to about $6 p.a., so I'm cool.
A few months later, armed with a rental car, I visited. It's a FARM SUPPLY place, huge elevators, 20-ton trucks rolling up for seed - and yet they serve little folks like me!

Do you ever try any other types of seeds? <not garden seeds obviously, which may be treated for planting>. If yes, what did you like other than bean sprouts? Alfalfa is a popular sprout and I have grown them but I don't remember where I got the seed? I think I'll look for it as well!

... so while I was there I bought a pound of every pure-seed I could find in their store. There are self-serve bins for bird-food, some mixed seed, some pure.
I've tried nyjer, sunflower, striped-sunflower, flax, safflower, all without success.
Some just sit there until it's time to rot, others sprout about 30%.
I suspect that the source stock is stale, or else the seeds just weren't bred/raised for sprouting.

My jars are now waiting for wintertime while I contemplate how to build bird-feeders that will be high enough so that a cat can't get to them, but won't sail away from my balcony when the equinoctial gales blow in up the Ohio (!) valley,

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See what you have done?

All the women in my life say that

[Skitterbug]

I started a new thread because I wanted the other one to be more on the mechanics of sprouting for newbies.

Chris - After my trip to my local grocery, I came away without any mung beans. If they have them, they were not with the dried beans <navy, pinto, etc.> Looks like from your information, I could probably try other types of beans?
I don't have the wide variety of stores that you seem to have there - unfortunately for me!

...........but won't sail away from my balcony when the equinoctial gales blow in up the Ohio (!) valley,

BTW, do you also suffer from the heat that moves across the Ohio Valley? If you do, I feel sorry for you!

See what you have done?

All the women in my life say that

[ChrisGreaves]

Chris - After my trip to my local grocery, I came away without any mung beans. If they have them, they were not with the dried beans <navy, pinto, etc.>

Faint not nor fear not.
Assuming you asked a clerk, chances are strong that
(a) The clerk doesn't even know the meaning of devoid (see my blog item on Staples and Postage Stamps)
(b) Noone has ever asked for mung bean sprouts before, so it's of little commercial value, so "why should I care"
(c) Since, as we all know, all Americans have funny accents, the clerk might have thought you asked for "Dung, been sprouts"⁽¹⁾

There aren't many stores selling Oat Grass seed in this neck of the (Markland) Woods, either. I asked on a local forum (Green-Connections) for directions. I *KNOW* that they have forums like that in OHIO because I was reading Self-sufficiency 'zines from Ohio back in the 70s. Ohio is famous for its down-to-earth, back-to-grass-roots culture.

Tinsley's IGA might stock them, but you'd have to ask a couple of clerks. Ask for Joan, if she's still there.
Downtown Discount too is a good bet; mung beans never grow stale, in some people's eyes, so it's the sort of thing a Discount store can stock forever, small space, high price ==> profit.

Health Food and Asian food stores.
What about the WalMart on West Liberty Pike?

If all else fails, Pat Buxton, back in 1974, taught me "Ask the reference Librarian at your local library"
(I know, I know, ... "My local library is at one end of my living-room ...")

When you see them, they'll be about 2mm to 3mm diameter, not perfectly spherical, more ovoid, and a darker, olive green shade.

Check also those racks with the packets of spices etc hanging from a hole punched in the cardboard clamp that is used to staple shut the cellophane bag.

I don't have the wide variety of stores that you seem to have there - unfortunately for me!

Have you considered moving to Toronto?

Looks like from your information, I could probably try other types of beans?

Possibly, although I've not had much luck.
I embarked on the varieties-of-seeds after eating a multi-sprout salad in Orangeville a year ago, a mixture of nyjer, sunflower etc etc.
I can't say that I tried very hard, and maybe, just maybe, there's not a great deal of demand for nyjer up in Queensville, so that the seed was stale (exposed to light, heat etc.)

In this morning's post (in about 15 minutes time), I'm documenting a purchase of beans made yesterday. the economics are easy. It costs, literally, a penny to experiment.

If you CAN find mung beans in the next week or two, I'd say start with those. There's a reason that they are the most popular form for sprouting.

If, after all else fails (see above), all other else fails, I'd be more-than-very-happy to mail you a batch. Send a postal address by PM.

ALERT!

BTW, do you also suffer from the heat that moves across the Ohio Valley? If you do, I feel sorry for you!

This is Toronto: If it's bad, it comes from The 'States.
If it's bad and it comes by air, we say "It is coming up the Ohio Valley".
That's because, as every Ontario schoolchild should, but doesn't know, the Ohio, before it was The Ohio, used to flow to the Arctic ocean before the Wisconsin Ice Sheet diverted it at a point about 20 miles NW of Pittsburgh, but (Pittsburgh's fault, now!), the river got diverted so that it now points like an Arrow at my apartment building.

1.png

The longer red line is a direct line from Cairo to Toronto.
The shorter red line is a direct line from Harrisburg to Toronto.
Wikipedia says "At the confluence, the Ohio is even bigger than the Mississippi (Ohio at Cairo: 281,500 cu ft/s (7,960 m3/s);Mississippi at Thebes: 208,200 cu ft/s (5,897 m3/s)[3]) and, thus, is hydrologically the main stream of the whole river system, including the Allegheny River further upstream.", but I digress.
(And don't get me started on the Allegheny and the Susquehanna ...)

All the women in my life

That's funny! Most of them laugh at me, too!

⁽¹⁾I've just remembered that this is the Cooking Forum.
(Guest) What's this?
(Host) Bean soup
(Guest) I can see that, but what is it now?

[ChrisGreaves]

Don't spend more than $1 to experiment.

So yesterday's date having fallen through. I hopped on a 'bus and hied me out to The Bulk Barn store at Square one Mississauga.

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Here's the receipt.
$6.19 for a bag of mung beans.
(In the calculations that follow feel free to add $3 for the bus fare (ticket valid for 2 hours), or $3 for gas, insurance etc. It'll make little difference!)
The big question on everyone's lips is "So what does $6.19 get you" besides a hill o' beans?

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To answer that question I grabbed my bean jar (empty juice container on the LHS), a measuring cup, and the red cap (RHS) from my bean container.

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I found that 15 cap-fuls of beans filled my measuring cup.
That's FIVE TIMES the number of images you can ul to a post here!

Next post: Overcoming Eileen's Lounge limitation of 3 images/post)

[ChrisGreaves]

I found that 15 cap-fuls of beans filled my measuring cup.

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Here's what one measuring-cup of mung beans looks like after it has been poured into my juice jar.

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Here's what 7.5 measuring-cups of mung beans look like after they have been poured into my juice jar.
Yep! I grabbed a toaster-oven from the recycle bin. perfect working-order.
Now I can toast last-night's pizza for lunch! Yummee!

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And here are the calculations.
One red-cap of mung beans makes enough sprouts for a large salad for me; say one day.
If I eat salad 4 times a week, I'll get about a half-a-year's salad greens for $6 (or $9 if you are being fussy).
How does that compare to lugging water (in the form of Romaine lettuce) home from the grocery store at $1 a pop?
Also having to go straight home before the lettuce wilts. etc. etc. etc.

[ChrisGreaves]

Chris - After my trip to my local grocery, I came away without any mung beans.

A short history of bean sprouts in Ohio

[Skitterbug]

Chris - After my trip to my local grocery, I came away without any mung beans.

http://www.fundinguniverse.com/company- ... ts in Ohio

Interesting history!
I need a map to figure out where Archbold is - There it is! - Not really that far!
I've been baby sitting - sounds funny doesn't it? Sitting on babies? Not really..just keeping my daughter's little one safe, fed and content while she works! Anyway, I haven't had time to hunt down mung beans. I have a few more places to check!
Thanks for your offer to send some! If I get desperate, I may take you up on it!

[ChrisGreaves]

Thanks for your offer to send some! If I get desperate, I may take you up on it!

Honest.
If you want to get started, I'd like to help you get started.
Postage won't be a humungous (sic!) cost!

[Skitterbug]

Thanks for your offer to send some! If I get desperate, I may take you up on it!

Honest.
If you want to get started, I'd like to help you get started.
Postage won't be a humungous (sic!) cost!

I finally found a little health food store that would order in some mung beans for me. Should arrive sometime next week.

[BobH]

For you sprouters, are you aware that the very environment that makes sprouting most successful is also one that supports and promotes fungal growth. Some of those fungi can be deadly if ingested.

We used to do sprouts from different beans, but got sick from a fungus. That stopped our dark efforts.

[Skitterbug]

For you sprouters, are you aware that the very environment that makes sprouting most successful is also one that supports and promotes fungal growth. Some of those fungi can be deadly if ingested.

We used to do sprouts from different beans, but got sick from a fungus. That stopped our dark efforts.

Thanks for the warning.

[ChrisGreaves]

Should arrive sometime next week.

Hooray!
I near as dammit dropped some off yesterday, but spent the day instead wandering around Painted Post, Horseheads, and Montour Falls.

[ChrisGreaves]

We used to do sprouts from different beans, but got sick from a fungus.

"Rinse well and on schedule" has worked well for me these past forty years!
I am conscious of needing to wash, not rinse, my glass jar after each sprouting; that's the jar or tumbler in which I soak the beans. It gets washed with hot water and detergent in the regular washing-up, and is then rinsed well and left to dry.
I can't ever recall getting sick from sprouts in South Australia, France or Canada.
Every now and then I hear of sickness through sprouts, from a batch of purchased sprouts, grown in manure-laced water and NOT properly rinsed.
Sprouts started from seed, and sprouted only in fresh doses of tap water should work fine.
For me the warning signs are small gassy bubbles, which suggest some sort of fermentation process has begun.

[Sundog]

I'll look for mung beans when I am out shopping for food items.

What about broccoli sprouts?

WikiPedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broccoli_sprouts says "Broccoli seeds are available for home growing. One can sprout broccoli seeds using a jar or a commercial sprouting kit. Broccoli sprout powders and capsules are also available. However, many of these products are produced from myrosinase-inactive sprout or seed extracts. It is difficult if not impossible for the consumer to identify which products contain both the essential precursor glucoraphanin as well as the active myrosinase enzyme. With a myrosinase-inactive product, an individual may not convert any of the glucoraphanin to sulforaphane."

Also, from the same source: "The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued suggested protocols recommending that commercially grown sprout seeds be soaked and sterilized with 20,000 PPM calcium hypochlorite prior to sprouting."

And "A study published in Nutrition Journal quantifies the effectiveness of sprout safety programs."

Since I don't have access to a full-fledged chem lab (and wouldn't remember enough high school chemistry to do anything useful), do I dare venture into the realm of myrosinase, glucoraphanin, sulforaphane, and calcium hypochlorite? I do like the taste of radishes, though ("Broccoli sprouts are 3- to 4-day old broccoli plants that look like alfalfa sprouts but taste like radish.")

[Sundog]

["Rinse well and on schedule" has worked well for me these past forty years!

(Insert bathing joke here.)

[ChrisGreaves]

(Insert bathing jokes here.)

OK.
http://quietube.com/v.php/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xSYmP0Vj7o
http://quietube.com/v.php/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxrZBYHHoGc

[Sundog]

Yes, well, but what about broccoli sprouts?

[BobH]

Oops!

At the risk of being labeled as a member of Our Gang, I meant to suggest alfalfa seed for sprouting. They were our favorite, most often used in sandwiches and salad.

Actually, Robert Hutchins was "Wheezer" on the old Our Gang series. He died learning to fly prior to WWII. (No relation that I know of.)

[Guest]

Well i am really inspired from the posts which you have done here in form of information about seeds for bean-sprouts . I am sure this would be beneficial for me.

[Sundog]

Since no one so far has responded to my inquiry about broccoli sprouts, I went Googling, and found this amazing site: http://sproutpeople.org/.
"Our site contains hundreds of pages of sprout information, including:
    Detailed Sprouting Instructions for over 80 seeds and mixes
    Recipes for Sprouts, Greens and even Grasses
    Detailed Sprouting Device Information
    Sprout School - Learn the Basics of Sprouting
    Sprouting Devices and Supplies
    Sprout Kits and Samplers
    Sprout Recipes"

And yes, they do carry broccoli seeds for sprouting, along with 16 other varieties of Brassica. Do any sprouting fans have any experience or comments about stuff from this site?