Sprouts

Sprouting is essentially the practice of germinating seeds — whether grains, nuts, beans or other kinds of seeds — so that they are easier to digest and your body can access their full nutritional profile.

According to a recent medical review, when comparing sprouted seeds (in this case sprouted grains) to unsprouted grain seeds, the unsprouted grains had “lower protein content, deficiency of certain essential amino acids, lower protein and starch availabilities, and the presence of certain anti nutrients.”

Many different types of “seed” foods can be sprouted, and some that you probably don’t even realize are seeds. Grains, for example, are really the seeds of cereal grasses. Sprouting seeds makes them edible by removing their enzyme-protectant covering, allowing our body to predigest the seed and absorb its nutrients.

Sprouted flours are used to bake (for example in bread, muffin, or panache recipes), add to salads (for example sprouted nuts or beans), as well as in stir-fries, soups and stews. Sprouted foods are a prominent ingredient in many raw food diets, but they have plenty of benefits for people following any type of diet.

Sprouting grains, nuts, beans and seeds has been a common practice in places like Eastern Asian and Europe for literally thousands of years. In fact, different forms of soaking, sprouting and fermenting seeds have been a part of almost every culture in one way or another because our ancestors understood the many advantages and health benefits that came along with sprouting foods.