Sprout Mung Beans
A common sight in Asian stir fries, mung bean sprouts are a crisp, slightly nutty tasting addition to any meal. You'll usually find them labeled simply as "bean sprouts" in the supermarket. These are among the fastest beans and seeds to sprout; you can grow bean sprouts as quickly as one or two days.
Steps
- Rinse the beans. Rinse the mung beans until the water runs clear. This will help protect you from anything which might have been in the soil, like metals and toxins, that the beans came from. It will also wash away things like mites!
- Mung beans get much bigger once they sprout, so be careful not to make too much.
- Place the beans in a clear bowl. Place the rinsed beans in a clean, clear bowl. If you have a sprouter, you can use that instead.
- Add the water. Pour enough cold water into the bowl to immerse the beans, generally around 2 to 3 times the volume of the beans on their own.
- Soak for 6-12 hours. After 6-12 hours (usually around 8 hours), the beans will swell. How long they have to soak will depend on the beans and the temperature of where you live.
- Drain and rinse the beans. Drain away the excess water, rinse them with cold water, and drain the water again.
- Place in a jar. Place the swelled beans in a sprouting jar, covered with a cheesecloth (not with the jar lid!).
- Put in a cool, dry, dark place. Find a place that gets little to no sunlight where the beans will not be disturbed. The bottom of a closet or pantry is a good option.
- Wait. You will now have to go through a 2-5 day cycle of rinsing and draining the beans every 12 hours and replacing them in the dark spot. How long you wait depends on how sprouted you want your beans to be.
- Done! When you see your beans sprouted to the length you desire, they're ready to eat! Enjoy!
Things You'll Need
- Sprouting jar with sprouting lid, or sprouting bag
