Salmon Summer Rolls and a Sprout Tutorial

Summer has finally arrived in Northern Colorado. We spent most of the month of May with cloudy skies, rain, and flooding. June has brought with it sunshine, gardens, outdoor activities, and happier people. It’s amazing what a little sunshine will do!

I would love to have a garden.  The idea of growing my own food and reaping a harvest is wonderful to me. However, I don’t really have the time, space, or green thumb for it. I recently planted some herbs and they have all died. What a let down.  I probably did something wrong and I don’t think those plants got enough sunshine. I planted them during May…

What I was able to grow successfully was sprouts. You’ve probably had them in Thai food or maybe a sandwich or salad from a deli…Or maybe you avoid those tiny little sprouts because you aren’t exactly sure what they are.

Sprouts are exactly what their name tells us: sprouted plants. Essentially they are the tiny versions of the mature plants that we consume daily. This means that they are full of those nutrients that we get from the mature plants, but we can eat less of them to get all those nutrients in our system. Awesome, right? The particular seeds that I sprouted are full of vitamins A, B, C, E and K, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium, Zinc, Carotene, Chlorophyll, Amino Acids, Antioxidants, Trace Elements, Folic Acid (!)

I had been looking for them in my local grocery stores, but I hadn’t found any that looked very good. After discussing this with a friend, he told me how easy and inexpensive it was to make them myself. Guess what? I grew them in a jar on my kitchen counter in 6 days. SIX DAYS. My brown thumb has nothing on these hearty seeds. They sprouted and were quickly eaten on several different, tasty concoctions. Honestly, I even ate them plain. They were so good! It was amazing to watch them change from a tablespoon of seeds into an entire jar of green plants.

Honestly, you are going to fall in love with this process as much as you are the end result. Watching a plant grow before your eyes is so amazing.

My particular seeds came from a company called Sprout People. Their website is full of different sprout mixes, recipes, and all the instruction that you need to be successful. I definitely recommend them!

You will need a quart sized jar, mesh, and a lid, to get started. Oh, and of course, seeds.

 

Start by adding 1 tablespoon of your seeds to the jar. Rinse these seeds until the water is clear and let them soak for 8-12 hours in about 3 tablespoons of water. I did this part overnight. The next day, drain the water from your jar. This is where the mesh and lid come in. Cover the mouth of the jar with the mesh and screw on the lid. This allows airflow for the seeds and makes it easy to rinse and drain them.

For the next 5-6 days you will rinse/drain the seeds 2-3 times a day.  This is one of the most important parts. You will want to store your sprouting jar in a place that is room temperature and has good airflow. Don’t worry too much about sunlight, they will sprout as long as they have some air and water. My kitchen counter worked great for this.

 

After day two, you will see tails of your plants inside of your jar.  With each passing day, you will see changes as your sprouts begin to grow. By the end of day six, you will have a full (or nearly full) jar of sprouts that are ready to be eaten!

When mine were ready, I added them to Salmon Summer Rolls that I served with a chili mayo. My chili mayo was inspired by a recipe from The Tiny Urban Kitchen. These rolls were delicious and I am excited to share the recipe with you!

 

Are you excited to start your own sprouting process?