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WHY USE SPROUTS?
by James Talmage Stevens
© 2009 Making
the Best of Basics ––Family
Preparedness Handbook
http://familypreparednessguide.com
Reasons for
using sprouts are so plentiful and so important it’s usually only a
matter of listing them to convince you to try this very special kind of
in-home gardening––accomplished in the comfort of your own kitchen.
In-creasing numbers of families find sprouting nutritious, delicious, and
far less expensive than store prices. This information is a digest version
of the Kitchen Gardening chapter,
to be released in the revised 11th edition
of Making the Best of Basics––Family
Preparedness Handbook.
Nutritional Advantages
Nutritionally, dried seeds, grains, and
legumes provide only a small portion of the total nutrients the body
requires. However, once they are sprouted, seeds provide the largest
relative amounts of nutrients per unit of intake compared to other food
sources. Sprouting multiplies the content of minerals and vitamins in the
seed many times because a wealth of nutrients is released to aid the
development of the seed during its growth process.
There is no doubt more nourishment
contained in a plant’s sprout than at any other time in its life cycle.
Often, new nutrients occur where there were none before. Vitamins A, B
complex, C, and E are increased, sometimes as much as ten times!
Both the quantity and quality of the
protein in most sprouts are dramatically increased. New amino acids form
as the seeds sprout, resulting in increased digestibility. Sprouts are
biogenic—alive and capable of transferring their life energy to your
body. They contain enzymes which aid in digestion of foods, provide a good
source of fiber, and slow the aging process. They are also an excellent
multipurpose vegetable. Using sprouts greatly increases vitamin content of
dishes, provides a ―live‖ food, and in general supports better
health for the body. To add to all of their nutritional plusses, untreated
and organic sprouts are free of pesticides and are pest-free, too.
Watching your weight? An
additional benefit of sprouts is the low carbohydrate, fat, and
cholesterol content—a real plus for weight-watchers.
Storage Advantages
It really doesn’t matter how sprouts are
utilized in food preparation, they will sustain good health and stamina.
If you had only a supply of sprouting seeds in your food storage, you
could live a full year or more, eating only from your kitchen garden. The
best part is that sprouts are also the least expensive fresh vegetables
you can procure and store!
It is virtually impossible for a family to
store enough fresh vegetables to last a long period of time—or to have
them available in times of extreme duress, whether due to people-caused or
natural disasters. By sprouting seeds, fresh vegetables are only 2–3
days away––year-round! Sprouts substitute for green vegetables and
replace lettuce and other greens when they become expensive or
unavailable. Get a variety of seeds and learn to use them and you will
have fresh green vegetables year-round, even when there is no way to grow
vegetables in soil. This makes sprouting seeds a high-priority acquisition
item for your family’s preparedness plan.
The amount of food value stored in
such a small space is a boon to a family’s foods storage program.
Sprouting is a very easy way to increase the utility of many types of
grains, seeds, and legumes or beans. Sprouts are easy to prepare and
utilize. Both equipment and supplies are easily found and readily
available almost anywhere. The effort required for a batch of sprouts is
minimal. Bringing sprouts to the table, ready to eat, takes
less than 10 minutes during the en-tire 3-day
(average) growth period.
Compared to vegetable gardening,
kitchen gardening with sprouts is easy.
There is little fuss and bother. Sprouts
re-quire no fertilizer. In fact, all that’s required is some water, air,
and a small nook where they can grow. Sprouts con-serve energy, too. They
require few resources for their sprouting cycle. You can eat sprouts
without cooking them, and any sprouted beans or grains cook much quicker.
Sprouts save money—all of the above, and this, too! Sprouting
inexpensive seeds can help support your family’s overworked budget!
More Free Sprouting Information:
You can download the entire 11 Page Basic
Sprouting Guide for free at www.wheatgrasskits.com/basic_sprouting_guide.pdf
for more topics such as: step by step sprouting using jar and tray
methods, the basic sprouting chart, ideas for sprouts and recipes, as well
as a mini directory of sprouting equipment.
About the Author:
James Talmage Stevens
is a preparedness practitioner since childhood, though not always by
personal choice. He authored *Making the Best of Basics--/Family
Preparedness Handbook/* in 1974. *Basics
*is now being readied for the 11th edition, 26th printing. With
more than 760,000 copies printed, it is the preparedness industry's
best-selling preparedness book.
Though out of print
since 2000, demand for *Basics *continues strong in the used book market,
where it is sold for as much as 6 times its original selling price!
Previews of the new, revised, and improved 11th edition are available free
at www.familypreparednessguide.com
until publication of the new version.
He is living the dream
of having a preparedness haven on several hillside acres in a small rural
community, in a 75-year old stone house with a tin roof, in the Hill
Country near San Antonio TX. Summer
Sprouting Growing Tip
During
the hot months of the summer it is best to refrigerate your sprouts after
about 3 to 4 days of sprouting. The sprouts will continue to grow
more slowly in the refrigerator--- this prevents the sprouts from becoming
too hot and spoiling. Water every other day after refrigeration.
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