Germinated seeds of edible crops can be very tasty and full of healthy properties. Crops are ready from 4 days onward depending on the variety. Below are several lists of seeds and nuts for growing and sprouting at home.

Choice of Seeds for Sprouting

Red Cabbage Brassica oleracea
Attractive, pinkish tinge to stems adds colour to salads. Red Cabbage is easy to sprout in a warm dark place if white sprouts are required, or in the kitchen, out of direct sunlight, for green sprouts. This will give two slightly different tastes and textures. Sow all year round; fast growing, ready to eat in 2-4 days.

Spicy Fenugreek  Trigonella foenum-graecum
Fenugreek Sprouting Seeds have a strong spicy curry flavour. High in Vitamins A and C. Easy to sprout in a warm place. An airing cupboard is ideal if white sprouts are required, or in the kitchen, out of direct sunlight, for green sprouts. This will give two slightly different tastes and textures. Sow all year round; fast growing, ready to eat in 2-4 days.
Use raw to add flavour and texture to a salad and sandwiches. Blanch in hot water and add to stews soups, casseroles and curries or put in stir fries

Lentils   Lens culinaris
Lentil Sprouting Seeds have a slightly nutty/peppery flavour. High in iron and Vitamins A and C. Easy to sprout in a warm place. An airing cupboard is ideal if white sprouts are required, or in the kitchen, out of direct sunlight, for green sprouts. This will give two slightly different tastes and textures. Sow all year round – fast growing, ready to eat in 2-4 days.Sprout in a warm place for nutritious sprouting seeds.

Sprouting Seed Method

• For growing indoors put 1 tablespoon of seed in a jam jar or seed sprouter.
• Cover seeds with about 250ml of water and cover the jar with a piece of muslin and secure with a rubber band.
• Soak seeds overnight and they will swell considerably.
• Drain water through the muslin cloth, then rinse seeds in fresh water.
• Repeat the process, drain well and place jar on its side in a warm spot 60-75°.
• Rinse seeds at least twice daily through the muslin cloth, until sprouts are ready to eat. This is essential to avoid fermenting any mouldy seedlings.
• When ready to eat rinse and use straight from the jar.
• Sprouted seeds will store in an unsealed polythene bag in the fridge for 3 or 4 days.

Seed Sprouters

• You can buy a ‘Biosnacky’ acrylic seed sprouter from Amazon ‘ for about £11
• Create a mini-greenhouse in your own home with a fun, easy to use Biosnacky Sprouter
• Sprouts are a nutritionally excellent food they can contain 400% more protein than lettuce and over 3900% more beta-carotine, provide a daily source of vitamins, proteins, minerals, trace elements and enzymes.
• Broccoli seeds contain high amounts of cancer fighting compounds!
• Easy to Use. Requires no soil or sowing, just place the seeds in the tray and water twice daily!
• Uses an irrigation system that’s been tried and tested a hundred times over.
• A three tier sprouter (with 3 packets of seed) like the one above will cost circa £20.

Cloth Bags Tip from Primal Seeds read more

• Make drawstring bags of any material that allows water and air to move freely but holds the sprouts. Hemp or linen is best as they still breathe when wet and don’t dry their contents too quickly.
• Put pre-soaked seeds into a moistened bag, dip in rinse water for a minute and hang to drain away from drafts. On each subsequent rinsing move the sprouts around in the bag to stop them rooting into the fabric.
• Grains and beans expand by about 3 times from dry, so don’t overfill the cloth bag.

More Seeds to Sprout

• Onion Allium cepa
  Onion Sprouting Seeds produce mild onion flavoured shoots to enhance a mixed salad. Easy to sprout in a warm place. An airing cupboard is ideal if white sprouts are required, or in the kitchen, out of direct sunlight, for green sprouts. This will give two slightly different tastes and textures. Sow Sprouting Seeds all year round; fast growing, ready to eat in 2-6 days Easy to grow in a jam jar, or in a special sprouting kit. Sprout in a warm place for nutritious sprouting seeds.
• Alfalfa Medicago sativa
  Alfalfa Sprouting Seeds are crisp, sweet and very nutritious. Vitamin-rich, sweet tasting sprouts. Easy to sprout in an airing cupboard. If white sprouts are required keep in the dark or in the kitchen, out of direct sunlight, for green sprouts. Sow all year round; fast growing, ready to eat in 2-6 days. Sprouting Seeds are easy to grow in a jam jar, or in a special sprouting kit. Sprout in a warm place for nutritious sprouting seeds.
• Buckwheat a herb that  likes light, warmth and wet. Needs to soak for 12 hours and a larger mesh or holes to root into than normal, use black unhulled seeds. The hulls are susceptible to mould so rinse well, ready in 10 days.Clover (red) like alfalfa but sharper taste and bigger leaves, ready in 6 days.
• Salad seeds and varieties of Lettuce make good micro greens. Cut when young if grown in soil.
• Mustard use the black type as it’s easier to grow. Too hot for mass consumption, better for spicing up other meals, ready in 6 days.
• Radish – hot, rinse well, ready in 6 days.
• Sunflower – sprout black ones as the shells fall off more easily. Rinse well as they are prone to mould. As buckwheat, soak long and use a larger mesh, they get big! Ready in 10 days.
• Barley – grows about 2 to 3 times the length of the grain, better cooked, ready in 2 to 5 days.
• Chickpea – cook, makes good sprouted humus, ready in 4 days.
• Mung – the famous Chinese sprout, to get them long, grow under a heavy bag of water with a banana or two nearby, (it gives off ethylene gas, a plant growth hormone.) The seed hulls don’t move easily, let them float away by holding the sprouts underwater, ready in 5 days but you can grow longer.
• Oats – use minimally processed oats. You can eat sprouts raw, but better cookedA. Ready in 3-5 days.
• Pea (green) – like lentils, but bigger and needs cooking, ready in 5 days.

For those with Sprouting Experience

• Kamut – this ancient grain is more nutritious and used the same way as wheat if you can find it. Sprout till the shoots are half the size of the berry, 4 days.
• Adzuki – cousin of the mung bean, crispy, use in salads sparingly, ready in 5 days.
• Wheatgrass – looks like grass and must be juiced. Soak hard wheat grains for 12 hours and use a large holed tray or basket. Harvest with scissors, has a strong flavour and many health giving properties, ready in 12 days .
• Garlic is expensive, but just as good as the bulb for health and taste. Seed jackets don’t come off easily, just eat them! The first week will see little growth, ready in 12 days.

Buy seeds for sprouting from Thompson & Morgan

Micro leaves on Gardeners Tips and Gardening for Vegetarians