If like me you love food and eating things that are totally delicious as well as nutritious then mung bean sprouting could well be your next thing…
It is so easy to do and the flavour you are rewarded with will mean that you’ll never buy a packet of beansprouts from the supermarket again.
Yes, you can buy a sprouting kit but I didn’t use any of that. All you need is:
- Muslin/cheesecloth or any clean thin natural material.
- Water – preferably filtered.
- A bowl.
- Some mung beans.
- A cupboard to put your bowl with mung beans in.
Sprouting helps your body to access all of the nutrition held within these beans. A sprouted bean essential packs a bigger nutritional punch. They’re an excellent protein source and contain:
- Manganese
- Magnesium
- Phosphorus
- Iron
- Copper
- Potassium
- Zinc
- Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, B9
- Selenium
- Plus essential amino acids (essential means your body can’t make them) including phenylalanine, leucine, isoleucine, valine, lysine, arginine.
Importance Of Where You Buy Your Mung Beans
I used organic mung beans so that there are minimal chemical residues and it is important to make sure that you buy them as fresh as possible (considering they will be imported from China) so make sure you buy from somewhere that has a good turnover of stock.
The first ones I brought were from a health food shop in a small village and their germination was poor. I’m thinking although I was delighted to find the last packet on the shelf, they could well have been gathering dust for some time.
You Don't Need Very Much
I warn you now. I have made this mistake twice now (hoping I’ve learned) these guys grow really well and whilst they’re not the size of a supermarket beansprout they seem to just go on multiplying.
I have done an (American) cup worth and they served two of us for three meals. It felt a bit full-on. So next time I will do a 1/4 cup in the hope that will be great for one meal.
How To Look After Your Mung Beans
Simply all you need to do is put your mung beans in a bowl and cover them with water overnight. On the next day rinse and drain them. Soak your cloth in water so that it is damp and place it over the top of your drained mung beans tucking the cloth in at the edges so nothing dries out. Then pop them in your cupboard until the next day.
I read in an article that if you grow them in daylight, they can be bitter, plus it will mean that the green sprouts will happen too quickly.
Every day rinse the beans through with fresh filtered water, drain the water off, give the cloth a quick rinse through, tuck the beans back in and keep repeating until they’ve reached the size that you want. These ones we ate after day 4.
Et voila, that’s it. Simply use them in stir frys, add them to soups and salads or snack on the odd handful as they are. They have a lovely fresh clean, nutty flavour to them. If you grow any, please share them on social media and tag us in we’d love to see your creations 🙂
