Madison Market Sprout Mix

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

Seed Prep Measure out 2/3 Cup of seed* Pick out anything you don't think should be there (shell or plant pieces, imperfect seeds if you wish (we don't), etc.). Rinse your seeds to remove dust or debris. Note: The Sunflowers and Pumpkins tend to be a bit on the "dusty" side (it is a byproduct of the Hulling process) so rinse until the water runs clear.

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 4 hours.

Note: If you look up the sprouting instructions for each of the seeds in this mix you will see that they all have unique soak times. We find that 4 hours works fine when they are all together, though when we grew this mix for our farmer's market we grew the almonds and peanuts together (soaking for 8-12 hours and sprouting for 2-3 days) and the pumpkins and sunflowers together (soaking 1-hour and sprouting for 24 hours), mixing them at the end. We have learned over the years that our home sprouting customers don't like 2-step sprout mixes, so we make it easy and live with the "imperfections".

We know that the resulting sprouts are so amazingly delicious when grown all together that you won't even consider an imperfection conceivable =:-D

But, if you want to be like us, you can buy the seeds separately and mix them together after you sprout them. Feel free!

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.

We stop here and eat the "Soaks" If you wish to proceed.... 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 4-12 hours. And, perhaps one more... Rinse and Drain in 4-12 hours. And, doubtfully, but possibly one more... Rinse and Drain in 4-12 hours.

In this case the Almonds and Peanuts are not supposed to do anything more than swell with water and possibly bulge at their germ. All the seeds in Market Mix are more Soaks than Sprouts.

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.

Note: Neither Pumpkin Sprouts nor Sunny Sprouts store well in the refrigerator. We have kept them for 2 weeks at times but we generally expect only a few days at best. They don't really go bad but they do tend to get bitter after a few days. If you do store Market Mix you can always pick out the Pumpkins if you don't like their flavor - they won't effect the other sprouts.

Still in all we think you should sprout and eat. Forget storage. These sprouts are so fast and easy to grow, there really is no reason not to grow them fresh just when you need them? Is there?

FYI - When we were professional sprout growers, we sold Madison Market Mix to a world class restaurant in Madison, Wisconsin every week and they were happy to use them throughout the week, so perhaps we're being too nit picky about their shelf life. Decide for yourself as always.

*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.