In Qatar, this is the best time to seed new plants. Take a seed, give it some water, soil, light and time and soon you will see the little sprouts shooting. The small meaningless seed suddenly awakened and enabled life.
‘We are what we eat’
You are probably aware of the sentence ‘We are what we eat’. So the simple conclusion would be: if we eat living foods we can become more vibrant and energetic. The small seed may be full of energy already, but If we sprout it we can increase its nutritional value many times. We can release the life force within the seed.
How can we sprout seeds, nuts, beans, and grains?
Spouting is even easier than seeding new plants. You simply need a glass jar for nuts, beans and grains and a plate with kitchen paper for smaller seeds.
First, soak the pulse you want to sprout overnight in water. The next day, rinse them with fresh water and place the jar or plate in a half-shady area. For the next 2 days keep the pulse moist by rinsing once or twice a day with fresh water. They can be eaten once the sprout appears.
Be aware: smell the sprouts before eating - the sprouts are not eatable if they smell moldy.
Sprouts can be added to salads, side dishes, smoothies, on bread spreads etc.
Here some ideas of what you can sprout
You can find most of the below listed pulse, seeds and nuts in regular supermarkets all around Doha. More specific ones you can order online.
Seeds:
- Broccoli
- Celery
- Chia
- clover
- Fenugreek
- Radish
- Kale
- Onion
- Pumpkin
- Sesame
- Sunflower
- Alfalfa
Note: Sprouts from the Solanaceae or nightshade family can be poisonous, so avoid eggplant, hot and sweet peppers, potato, and tomato. Also avoid rhubarb.
Nuts:
- Almonds
- Cashew
- Hazelnut
- Walnut
Most "sprouted" nuts are technically just soaked, meaning they undergo only the first stage of sprouting, which is soaking in water for 2 to 12 hours.
Beans:
- Chickpeas
- Mung beans
- Soy
- Adzuki beans
- Green peas
- Lentils
- Soy beans
Fully sprouting the beans softens them enough that they may be eaten raw, whizzed into soups, blended to make spreads like hummus, or lightly cooked.
Grains:
- wheat berries
- amaranth
- (unhulled) barley
- Buckwheat
- Corn
- Faro
- Kamut
- Millet
- Quinoa
- Rice
- Rye berries
- Sorghum
- Spelt
- any other kind of whole grain.