Microgreen Sprouts in a Jar

So recently I have discovered the simplicity in growing microgreens. Today I am talking about growing sprouts in a jar which is extremely simple and quick. The reason I decided to start growing microgreens was the fact that it didn't take long to get a nutrient packed super food to add to my everyday eating. Living in colder climates it is harder to have a year round garden so to get fresh greens isn't and always. But with the microgreens it's a little easier to get that freshness without the extra space or even length in time. It took 6 days for me to get just over 2 cups of alfalfa sprouts to add to sandwiches and what not.

When you go purchase seeds for this make sure you purchase sprouting seeds in bulk because you do go through a lot of seeds. I have purchased a variety of sprouts for this one I was using alfalfa. I also have a bunch of wheat grass which once I restart that batch I will walk through it. I also have sunflower, pea sprouts and a sandwich booster mix that the store came up with that they thought would add plenty of flavour to a sandwich. I live in Manitoba so I just went to Winnipeg to T and T Seeds to get my seeds from, they have quite a huge selection of many different types of seeds.

To start you will need a large wide-mouth jar with a screen lid or a cheese cloth for this one I had a jar and a sink strainer for dollarama so I just used that, but they do have kits available with a pre-made jar if you would like.

For this you really don't need much seeds about 1-2 tablespoon for a large jar. I used 2 tablespoon which gave me a large yield. After adding the seeds you want to submerse the seeds into water for 6-8 hours. Its easiest if you do it at night then the morning you would empty the water and rinse the seeds off.

Now you want to rinse the seeds off each morning and night making sure to dump the water out so you just get the seeds wet and keep in a dark place till you can see the seeds sprouting.

Once you have sprouting happening you want to then place your jar into a well lit area, usually around the third day. I placed my seeds under a grow light in my grow room. If you don't have any grow lights either good LED lights or the easiest a window that has adequate sun. Now you want to continue rinsing until your sprouts start forming their first leaves, normally by day 6. After that you pull the sprouts out of the jar. (warning it is quite difficult if you have it full of sprouts) Once out I just gave my sprouts a final rinse in a strainer just to make sure any gross slime isn't on it that would taste awful and might potentially have any bacteria, we did just have it in an optimal environment for it.

I stored my final product in an old recycled nectarine container I had gotten from the store. I thought it was perfect cause it did have some holes to allow some air circulation still. I put paper towel down on the bottom of the container just to collect the moisture from rinsing.

Then you can store in the fridge for about 2 weeks and enjoy your super quick, super easy, super food.

Next time I am going to try different substances to grow. The wheat grass I do in a tray but I am thinking I might do something similar for the other sprouts just because a jar can become difficult when trying to remove them. We'll see the pros and cons with other mediums. But I definitely recommend more people trying it out even if you don't have a green thumb it'll make you feel great growing your own food. Talk to you in the next blog.