Sprouted grains… What the heck is a sprouted grain? Why would you want to eat sprouted grains? How to you sprout grains? Then you might ask, “How do I eat sprouted grains and where will I find the time to do this?”

First lets talk about why you might want to eat sprouted grains. There is a wide range of health benefits of the different grains during sprouting.

  • Sprouted brown rice fights diabetes and cardiovascular disease. It also decreases depression and fatigue in nursing mothers. Sprouted rice also reduces the already low chance of rice allergies
  • Sprouted buckwheat protects the liver from fatty liver disease
  • Sprouted barley can decrease blood pressure and increases it’s nutrition
  • Sprouted rye increases folate and then protects it during cooking
  • Sprouting sorghum enhances the taste and nutrition of this grain
  • Sprouting millet will increase in lysine, tryptophan, and protein. It also decreases prolamins that is difficult for some people to digest

Grain is the seed of plants, mostly cereal grass. The grain kernel contains the potential for the plant. It is a power house. Once grain starts to sprout, it releases enzyme to help the plant digest the seed to grow.

These enzymes enhances our digestion of food. The better, more complete digestion is, the more nutrients we have available for our bodies. In addition to helping digestion, sprouted grains offer increase bio-availability of vitamin C, and minerals. Grains are a powerhouse of nutrition.

You can buy sprouted wheat bread. Ezekiel is one brand that tastes very good. You can buy sprouted grain flours for use in recipes. You can also sprout the grain yourself and grind them into flour to use in baking and cooking recipes.

I have not been baking as much any more. But I do make every effort to start the sprouting process for all the grains I eat.

First you need to measure the grain that you are going to cook .

Rinse the grain in running water. There can be dust, other particles that you will want to remove.

    Put the grain in a cooking pot and cover with water. Typically it is 1 cup grain to 2 cups of water. Soak the grain for at least 8 hours. This starts the germination process and unlocks the powerhouse of nutrients.

After the soaking period, turn on the heat, and bring to a boil. Once it is boiling, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook 40-50 minutes or until the water is absorbed.

There is an exception. Quinoa has saponin which is very bitter. I find that rinsing alone doesn’t work. After I soak quinoa, I do rinse them again. Also the soaking time for quinoa is only for 30 minutes to start the germination process. Which means you can cook them after 30 minute soak and it is a sprouted grain.

It is easy and so good for you. I think sprouting enhances the flavor of the food. You can eat the sprouted grain as a pilaf, in casseroles, in balls as a snack or sweet as in a porridge.

You might be wondering how to create time to do all this work. It really doesn’t add any time to the cooking process. It takes less that 5 minutes to get the brown rice out and measure it, rinse it and start the soaking process.

Brown rice does take longer than white rice to cook. Start it when you begin your meal prep and it will be done when dinner is ready. Also I cook for more than one meal. I store in a glass container and portion out what I need when I need it. So I am only cooking rice 2 time a week. It is not that laborious.

Do what you can and enjoy what you do.