Alfalfa Sprouts

Day four of my first sprout growing experience. Imagine, here's a jar filled with fresh, crunchy energy, packing its own digestive enzymes along with a myriad of nutrients. Back in the '70's we joked about the hippies eating veggies, growing sprouts, living a lifestyle hard to fathom if you were on that upwardly mobile track, where having the butcher cut two-inch thick Porterhouse steaks to grill on a Saturday night was deriguere.

Memory can still savor the mouth-watering aroma of those steaks on the grill. But better judgement keeps them just a memory. And not simply better judgement. I suspect to have a 2" thick Porterhouse steak cut from grass fed, free roaming livestock, devoid of growth hormones and antibiotics would be a pretty pricey proposition today.

Back to the sprouts. Armed with a small package of organic alfalfa seeds from the local health food store, and the purchase of a dozen wide mouth, quart Mason jars and a package containing three yards of cheesecloth, I was ready to join the ranks of millions of folks who regularly produce fresh sprouts in their kitchens.

Simple instructions gleaned from the web, actually I was motivated to try my hand at this from a recent post on Apartment Therapy. There are a host of websites waiting to lend a hand. Sproutman or Sproutpeople are good places to start for instruction, advice and supplies.

Two tablespoons of seeds, soaked overnight, then rinsed and drained twice a day produced this wonderful jar of crunchy, sweet, nutritious sprouts. In the past, I've either included sprouts in a veggie wrap or topped off a big salad with a generous handful of store-bought sprouts. Knowing they "were good for me" but not all together happy with the musty aftertaste.

These fresh little guys, with no preservatives added, are sweet and flavorful and make a wonderful side salad on their own. I filled a small dish with sprouts, drizzled them with heavenly imported Tuscan olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon juice and some freshly ground pepper. The fresh lemon juice was a good match for the fresh taste of the newly grown sprouts.

I tried the sprouts as a stand alone salad again, but this time with a drizzle of the award winning Pasolivo lemon flavored olive oil that I picked up at the olive grove in Paso Robles last month. The softness of the Meyer lemons with the Tuscan olive oil was a better match for the young sprouts, not as astringent as straight lemon juice. This will be my new favorite snack and side salad.

Buoyed up with confidence at the ease of growing this first batch of sprouts, I'm eager to try sprouting other seeds and beans. I bought a dozen Mason jars, so I have no excuse for not soaking something else soon.