Recently I began considering new innovations in sprouting. Behold. I found the GEFU sprouting jar. I mostly just liked the design. The jar stood upright instead of propped at an angle in a bowl. It looked neater and took up less space on the counter. So I bought the GEFU. I did think it was a little silly to spend money on a sprouter just because it was cute when I had lots of jars and lids for sprouting.
The arrival day came, and I immediately put a tablespoon of broccoli seeds in it and filled it with water. I had a little trouble with it because the lid doesn't unscrew. It pops out like a stopper. The lid has little legs on it that hold it over its little tray that it sits on and drains into. Rather than screw off the lid, one rinses it through the mesh screen in the lid.
The next day I drained the water and rinsed the seeds four times as per instructions. I did this once a day for a few days.
I was startled and thrilled to see how much the broccoli loved this thing. The upside down setup seemed to keep the seeds hydrated and I saw that the sides of the jar were moist and a little foggy. Wow. The roots were going crazy with growth. The position of the tray seemed to supplement the water supply for the sprouts also.
So I was in business. In a few effortless days I had lush broccoli sprouts. I really couldn't get over it. The jar seemed to be magical.
I had purchased a couple of other sprouting items. One was a set of sprouting lids for Mason jars.
If you look closely you can see that the lids also have little legs so one can turn the sprouting jar upside down. In the center is a deeper thingy for filling the jar with water. So it works like the other sprouter that it isn't necessary to remove the lid to rinse the sprouts. I liked the plastic better because in the past I've used stainless steel mesh lids and they rusted. Stainless steel is not actually rustproof, just rust resistant. So I thought after a while I would find it necessary to replace the lid on the GEFU jar. The inside of the lid also has a nice silicone seal. So it's a superbly thought out sprouting lid.
I also bought a new sprouting jar, although it was also a silly purchase since I have Mason jars everywhere I can use.
Here's the beautiful new sprouting jar.
Well, how did it go? This jar is nice because it's two quarts, although I do have two quart Mason jars. I supposed I would use it for mung sprouts. So guess what? It does have a mesh lid for sprouting, but I was surprised to discover that the size of the mouth of the jar is not a standard Mason wide mouthed jar size! So my new lids didn't fit my new jar. How terrible! And this lid didn't have the little legs on it. Oh disappointment!
Then when I harvested my broccoli sprouts, I tried my GEFU lid on my new jar. Surprise! It was a perfect fit. So I put some mung seeds in the new jar and started some mung sprouts. I put them on the counter and put a small black plastic bag over them. I like this system better than my old one, which was to keep them in a cabinet so it would be dark. Just like the broccoli, the mung sprouts were delirious with joy, growing like weeds, and I finally ate some today. They were very good and had a better root system than my sprouts usually have.
I did also put a new sprouting lid on a two quart Mason jar and sprouted mung beans in that too at the same time. Those turned out beautifully also.
I've been so impressed with the GEFU sprouter that I bought two more. And I've been able to have more broccoli sprouts on a regular basis now. So this makes me happy happy happy.
My refrigerator is packed with sprouts now. I must have eaten three cups of them today. The broccoli sprouts are living in a quart and a half plastic container I bought take out soup in. My, they're happy. Days have passed but they're still fluffy and hydrated with no attention at all.
So finally the broccoli sprouts have capitulated and started growing easily and abundantly. Maybe praying for them helped.
P.S. Mason jars are fine things except that they're so austere and utilitarian. So looking a sprouting jars took me to other possibilities in Mason jars. I bought a set of four blue one. I was about to buy a different brand and read the comments. It turned out the seller didn't use blue glass, but painted blue decoration jars. Yikes. Who would have imagined the craziness involved in buying jars? Anyway, now I have pretty Mason jars too. The black things are labels.
