Sprouting your own beans, peas and lentils is an inexpensive way to prepare plant-based proteins, while also making the legumes more digestible (and delicious). Learn step-by-step how to sprout almost any legume.
Benefits of Sprouting
Beans and lentils that you buy in a can or jar are already cooked. These will no longer germinate. You need dried legumes for this. For a few euros you can already buy a pound or kilo legumes. This has a long shelf life, so always handy to have some in stock. When soaking, sprouting and cooking you double or triple the weight due to the absorption of water.
For this project you need few materials and space. And it's fun to watch the beans grow.
Raw legumes contain antinutrients. These are substances in foods that make that certain nutrients are less well absorbed in the intestines. One such antinutrient in legumes is lectin. Soaking and sprouting your beans will help make lectins inactive.
By sprouting beans you increase the nutritional value. The amount of vitamins and minerals, essential fatty acids, antioxidants and enzymes increase.
Finally, sprouting also ensures that the legumes are more digestible.
Which legumes
In principle, you can sprout all beans, peas and lentils. After all, they are the seeds for a new plant. Kidney beans can be sprouted, but you have to cook them afterwards. Kidney beans are NOT suitable for eating raw. Split peas are actually half seeds. These will therefore not germinate.
How to sprout legumes
Supplies
You don't need much to sprout legumes. Except dried beans, clean drinking water and something to put the legumes in. I have a set of two sprouting jars with a rack for this. These are glass jars with a metal lid with holes in it. If you don't have this, you can use a glass jar and place a piece of cheesecloth over the opening with a rubber band. Another option is to use a sieve and place a tea towel over it. You can place a bowl or plate underneath to catch any leaking water.
Step-by-step
1. Check the beans, peas or lentils you want to sprout. Remove weird looking legumes.
2. Rinse your legumes in a sieve with plenty of water.
3. Note that some beans can grow up to three times in size during soaking. Fill the jar up to a quarter full with beans. Place the legumes in the sprouting jar with a large amount of drinking water.
4. Soak for 12 hours. In the meantime, change the water once or twice. Smaller legumes can be soaked for a shorter time, large beans for longer. Place the pot on the counter during soaking and sprouting. It doesn't have to be in front of a window.
5. Then rinse the beans with plenty of water. Drain well and turn the pot upside down to allow excess water to drain out.
6. Repeat rinsing and draining two to three times a day.
Processing
If you want to process the beans further by boiling them, do not let the sprouts get too long. If it is a half to one centimeter long, you can cook the beans after a final rinse. The legumes that have sprouted are cooked faster than after soaking alone. In the pictures you can see aduki and black turtle beans. According to the packaging, they should cook for 60-120 minutes. After sprouting, they were cooked in 40 minutes.
Cooked beans are great for freezing, so you always have a portion in stock.
If you want to eat the sprouts raw, for example in a salad, continue rinsing two or three times a day until you have reached the desired size. You can keep the sprouts dry in a sealed jar or container in the refrigerator for a few days.
Enjoy your legumes!
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