Broccoli Sprouts

 

Sometimes I've heard about things I should do.  One recommendation was to live on sprouts for six months.  Why?  I don't remember exactly.  It resets the health sort of.  But I filed that away.  

I started sprouting because I just thought one should eat their fresh produce, but it can be hard to do.  My gardens had problems of every sort.  And they took forever to produce.  The grocery produce was expensive, not really that good, and then when I took it home it had to be properly stored and eaten soon or it would spoil.  It was all a never ending chore.  

One day a catalog arrived, and they were trying to sell their sprouting kits.  They just didn't sell, so the kits went on sale for $15.  That included a book on sprouting by Ann Wigmore, 7 one and a half pound mylar bags of assorted sprouting seeds, and a tray type sprouter.  Maybe sprouts would fix the fresh produce problem.   Not only that, since I was the grower, I knew they could be grown organically.  

Then I fell upon hard times for a while.  I injured my leg, making it very painful to go to the grocery store.  And so, having all the sprouting paraphernalia I decided to live on sprouts.  I made almost two gallons of sprouts a week.  And did I starve?  No.  I still haven't quite lost the weight from doing that.  I just found it easier to grow two gallons of sprouts a week than to go to the grocery and shop.  And it took less time.  The doggie too had to live on sprouts for several months.  He actually seemed to enjoy it.   How many months?  At least six months.   I should mention that I found recipes for stir frying, salads and smoothies and usually made a dish like egg fu young with them.  I mixed alfalfa sprouts with tuna and egg salad for the lettuce and celery style crunch.  My grocery bills per month were $75.  And not that long ago, 2012.   

At the end of the day, except for being a little heavier, I was in better health than almost anyone.  A doctor did tests on me and marveled at my numbers, saying, "We haven't seen numbers like that around here in a long time."  But what was the most important lesson for me during that time?  I knew that neither I nor the doggie were ever going to starve.  We could live indefinitely on sprouts.  And they are the easiest thing to store.  Sprouting seeds takes up little room and can last for years.  Then when you want sprouts, you begin your little crop and in about five days you harvest fresh produce.  

Now, the piece de resistance.  Broccoli sprouts.  During my sprouting experiences I tried a variety of sprouts, and settled pretty much on the old standbys:  mung and alfalfa.  But I did like broccoli sprouts also, an amazing invention.   I read a number of articles about them and their medicinal properties.  The essence of broccoli sprouts is used in the treatment of breast cancer.  What is the essence?  Sulforaphane.  This is the ingredient that gives cruciferous vegetables their healthful properties.  The funny thing is, sulforaphane is 50 times stronger in the sprout than in the mature plant.  This is because all of the sulforaphane magic is in the seed to begin with, and as the seed grows, the sulforgaphane dilutes, rather than increases.  In fact, one doctor wrote that no more than one quart of broccoli sprouts should be eaten daily because more than that would become a toxic.  And what did broccoli sprouts do for me?  They reduced pain better than pain killers.  

This is my new sprouting tray.  I liked it because it has a lid, keeping gnats off in warmer weather.  If the weather is really warm, like in the summer, I just grow them in the refrigerator.  Well, the only ones that complain much about warm weather are broccoli sprouts.  I didn't think the broccoli sprouts would grow well in this, but they really loved it.  The last day I put them in a window to green.  It also keeps in moisture like a terrarium.  

So, eat sprouts and live happily ever after. 

PS.  Half a cup of broccoli sprouts contains as much vitamin C as a lemon.