Buckwheat Groat Sprouts

Hulled Buckwheat

One of the quickest sprouts around - Groats are nutty, plump and extremely tender. They are part of the prefect sprout breakfast!

Our Buckwheat comes from a source which is certified organic.

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90%

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$8.98 / Lb.

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Growing Basics

Soak

30 minutes

The amount of time your seeds should soak in cool water. Soaking is how we begin the sprouting process in most cases.
Rinse / Drain

2 times per day

How often your seeds should be watered. Rinsing thoroughly and then draining as much water as possible are key components to growing great sprouts.
Harvest

1 - 3 days

The time it takes to grow a finished Sprout, or other crop (Micro-Greens, Grass, Greens) from a dry Seed. Note: This "finished" Sprout is our preference. you may grow them for as long as you want! In fact, we suggest that you taste them at every rinse to discover when you like them best.
Yield

1.5 to 1

The amount of Sprouts, Grass, Greens or Micro-Greens produced by 1 unit of Seed. For Example 2:1 means that 1 pound of Seed will produce 2 pounds of Sprouts or whatever crop you are growing. You do not have to grow them all at once of course, unless you wish to =:-D

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Growing Instructions
Detailed Instructions
Growing Photos
About
Notes
Recipes

Print Instructions

Prep 2/3 cup of seeds by running cool water through them for a minute or so.

Soak the seeds in cool water for 30 minutes.

Drain off soak water. Do not ever soak again.

Rinse very thoroughly.

Drain thoroughly.

Keep your Sprouter in a relatively low light location.

Rinse and Drain thoroughly - with cool water every 8-12 hours.

Harvest when your seeds have tiny Roots, and eat or Refrigerate your crop.

Print Instructions

Yields approximately 1 Cup (1/2 lb.) of Sprouts.

Seed Prep Measure out 2/3 Cup of seed* into a strainer, sieve or your Sprouter. Pick out anything you don't think should be there (shell or plant pieces, imperfect seeds if you wish (we don't), etc.). Buckwheat Groats create amazingly starchy water, so it can help to run some water through them before Soaking. Do it for about a minute. This won't remove all the starch, but any less is good - as you'll see shortly.

Soak Transfer your seeds into your Sprouter, or a bowl. Add 2-3 times as much cool (60-70 degree) water. Mix seeds up to assure even water contact for all. Allow seeds to Soak for 30 minutes. Buckwheat Groats take up all the water they need quickly, that is why their Soak time is so short. They may get waterlogged if soaked too long, and may never sprout - so - Don't over-soak them!

Sprouting Empty the seeds into your Sprouter (if necessary). Drain off the soak water. You can use it - it has nutrients in it.

Rinse thoroughly with cool (60-70°) water. Drain thoroughly.

Note: Buckwheat Groat's starchy water on is amazingly thick! They won't sprout too well unless you get rid of it - so Rinse and Rinse and Rinse until the water runs clear and is less viscous then at first. It can take a little while - but don't skimp. 4 or 5 is generally our number of cycles. Every Rinse is the same when dealing with Buckwheat Groats: Rinse and Rinse and Rinse until the water runs clear.

Always be sure to Drain very thoroughly. The most common cause of inferior sprouts is inadequate drainage. Even the best designed Sprouting Device holds water, so pay special attention to this step.

Set your Sprouter anywhere out of direct sunlight and at room temperature (70° is optimal) between Rinses. This is where your sprouts do their growing. We use a counter top - in the corner of our kitchen, but where the sprouter won't get knocked over by cats, dogs, kids or us. We don't mind the indirect sunlight or the 150 watts of incandescent light, because light just does not matter much. A plant can only perform photosynthesis when it has leaves, and these sprouts are definitely not going to have leaves. Until a plant has leaves, light has little if any effect. Sprouts also happen to like air-circulation, so don't hide your sprouts.

Rinse and Drain again in 8-12 hours. And, perhaps one more... Rinse and Drain in 8-12 hours. And, possibly once more... Rinse and Drain in 8-12 hours.

We usually stop here (or sooner if we have any root at all). We like our Buckwheat Groat Sprouts very small.

As always, we suggest that you taste your crop at Every Rinse - including the very first - just after the Soak period. The soaked seeds are already alive and are now super-nutritious - and - they now have no enzyme inhibitors (a very good thing indeed) so they'll digest themselves and nourish you.

Harvest Your sprouts are done 8-12 hours after your final Rinse. Be sure - if you plan on storing your crop - to Drain them as thoroughly as possible after that final Rinse. The goal during the final 8-12 hours is to minimize the surface moisture of your sprouts - they will store best in your refrigerator if they are dry to the touch.

Refrigerate Transfer your sprout crop to a plastic bag, our shelf life extending Produce Storage Bags, or the sealed container of your choice (glass is good too). Whatever you choose - put them in your refrigerator - if you can keep from eating them all first.

*Seed to Use If using Sproutpeople's Single Harvest Pack - use the whole bag.

These seeds will yield approximately 1.5:1 (you get 1.5 pounds for every pound of dry seed), so in theory you can start with up to as 2/3 as much dry seed as your Sprouter has capacity. We generally advise maxing out at 1/2 capacity, until you get used to growing a particular crop.

Dry Groats await their Soak.

30 minutes later... Soaked, Rinsed and Drained. You may eat them now, or...

12 hours later... another Rinse/Drain cycle. You can be done - if you haven't eaten them already, or keep on sprouting.

12 hours later, and another Rinse/Drain cycle. You can be done - now, before, or in another 12 hours.

12 hours later.... Harvest your crop before it gets too sprouted.

These are hulled Buckwheat. The word Groat literally means "a hulled seed". They are one of the quickest sprouts around - soak 'em for 20-30 minutes, rinse a few times and you have sprouts in about 36-48 hours, or just Soak 'em and eat 'em. Buckwheat Groats are nutty, plump and extremely tender. They make a great snack, and a phenomenal, live Breakfast Cereal!

If you like the idea of Sprout Cereal, be sure to check out our Oats + Groats Mix.

We eat a lot of buckwheat groats these days and we are particularly happy with our seed. It germinates quickly and more evenly than many a buckwheat groat. Seed Shelf Life: 2 years. Store in cool, dark, dry spot. Store in freezer to extend shelf life.

Planting Density

The more densely you plant the seed the less air circulates around the individual plants. This can cause some fungal growth - we call it “fuzzies”. This is not a problem, except that it is unattractive. Some crops will have mold or rot issues. That is a problem. If you get brown pockets at the soil level, where the plants just die, you are probably in need of more air circulation, so plant fewer seeds next time. If you do encounter rot spots like that, scoop them out - if you're growing on a fluffy medium, and try to nurse your crop to completion. In summer we grow our Greens outside (from the point when we uncover the tray) for optimal air circulation.

Planting Medium

We have grown Greens - on soil - in Trays, for almost 2 decades. But, we now have options. We have multiple Soilless Mediums (including Baby Blanket and Vermiculite), and organic liquid Kelp Fertilizer to provide your plants some nutrients to draw upon as they grow. Baby Blanket is a thin organic material that you soak before planting upon. It holds moisture and is the least messy and compact medium we know of. Vermiculite is a mineral which holds moisture supremely, dispenses added nutrients over time and in general acts much like soil. We think you should try all of them if you can - there are differences and though they are minimal you may prefer one method over the other.

Instructions are pretty much the same, regardless of what medium you use, but we have specified differences where they exist. We may be offering other, or different Mediums (products are always coming and going) then when we wrote these instructions, or you might be using one you got somewhere else. Please follow our instructions that refer to Baby Blanket for other thin mediums (i.e. STG Pads). Consider Perlite, Potting Soil or other such fluffy mediums to be the same as Vermiculite, and so follow directions labeled for Vermiculite. There may be some small differences, but they're likely to be minor.

Soil Notes

Virtually any soil will do for Greens. We used sterile composted cow manure for the tens of thousands of Trays we grew during our days as professional growers, but any sterile bagged soil will do, and should be available at any garden center, and be inexpensive (depending on the general cost of living where you are of course). You can use expensive soil if you prefer - we might even be selling some - it is your choice - always. The deal is this - Greens (garden greens anyway) are aided by the presence of the nutrient Nitrogen, in the soil. Nitrogen is the nutrient responsible for plant growth (a very good thing when growing lettuce, spinach, collards or other leafy crops, but too much nitrogen is bad if growing peppers or tomatoes or any plant where the fruit is what we eat). Manures contain varrying amounts of nitrogen depending on the animal that originally produced it. Too much nitrogen will burn plants - almost literally burn them - hence the word HOT is used in reference to nitrogen. The higher the nitrogen content the HOTTER the manure (or fertilizer) is considered. Cow manure is the least hot - it was perfect for our needs - it supplies the growing plants with a little extra boost. Chicken, other bird manures and Bat Guano (another word for manure) are much hotter, and Earthworm castings are hotter still (castings is yet another word for manure). The catch is this: Greens, Grass and Sprouts are theoretically all too young to benefit from nitrogen and other nutrients. It is written that every seed has, within itself, all the nutrients it needs to grow to the cotyledon stage. That's as far as we grow any of our seeds (with the sometimes exception of Micro-Greens). So - though it is contradictory, it is our experience that nitrogen does help Greens in some cases (most obviously when growing Sunflower Greens). Like we always say - EXPERIMENT FOR YOURSELF. Draw your own conclusions. If you are familiar with our rap on Dogma, you'll agree with us when we say; Just because it is written does not mean that it's so. Whatever the reality - a little nitrogen can't hurt. Wouldn't it be fantastic if we could get our teenagers to use the words Guano or Castings instead of %&$# when they get ticked off?;-D

Hydroponic Greens

We do not grow hydroponic Greens. We have tried but have never gotten the yields we get with soil, and the flavor of the crops is nowhere near as fine. They taste watered down. Now that we have a soilless alternatives (Baby Blanket, Vermiculite, etc.) we are even less interested in hydroponic Greens growing. But, if you want to try - go to Val at Go Green/Green Smoothie - she is the queen of home hydroponics. Tell her us Sproutpeople sent you!

Tray Note

Your Planting Tray (the one with the soil or medium in it) MUST have drainage holes or slits! Nothing will grow in a medium that can not drain - that condition is commonly called "flooded". When using Baby Blanket or Vermiculite your Planting Tray must also have drainage, but we do use the Drip Tray to hold some water at times in the growing process. (You'll see the TIP in our instructions, above.)

As I've said time and time again on the site, we hate dogma, so take my dogma with a grain of salt. You can grow in trays without drainage (the amazing people at the Hippocrates Health Institute have long done so), but you do have to be able to drain excess water away. Tipping is a possibility, but we think it risky - especially for the novice grower, hence my dogma.

Re-Growing Your Crop

Greens can produce a 2nd - so you may continue to water after you cut your first crop. The 2nd and crop will not be as tender, and it may have fungal problems, but it is good to try growing a 2nd crop. Decide for yourself if it is worth it! Vermiculite is the best medium, as far as water retention is concerned - which is a very big deal if you want to go for multiple cuttings, but soil enriched with Earthworm Castings is perhaps a better choice as it gives the Greens nutrients to draw upon. Soil enriched with Earthworm Castings and with about 10-20% Vermiculite might be perfect. Funny that never occurred to me before.... Whatever you use, it's worth a try if only for the experience and the knowledge gained.

Special Note

Some years ago a person wrote an article stating that consuming huge quantities of buckwheat greens juice, as he had done, could cause skin sensitivity to the sun. After reading his article we agree that consuming such large amounts is not recommended. We have always promoted moderation in food consumption and that applies here. Buckwheat in small quantities can promote health. Although some people may be sensitive to even small quantities of buckwheat lettuce, for most people it is a healthy addition to their diet. It contains rutin, a bioflavinoid not found in beans or grains, that can help strengthen blood vessels. The author of the article makes this statement near the end: "I would like to make the disclaimer that I am not advising people to stop eating buckwheat. The Latin expression dosis sola facet venenum (the dose makes the poison) attributed to the ancient Romans could be applied here. A small quantity of buckwheat greens (or buckwheat lettuce as it is often called) in an individual diet could allow for healthy nutritional benefits without the negative effects of large amounts......" Fear spreads. Please be careful not to take just anyone's claims at face value. Use your common sense. Avoid Dogma. Read the article - thoroughly - and make your own decision.