Sprouts

For the last few years, I’ve been growing broccoli sprouts at home. I freeze them and put them into smoothies. The motivation is two-fold: longevity/health and the joy of “gardening.”

I heard about broccoli sprouts during COVID, when I – like many people – dialed up my consumption of health-related media. Rhonda Patrick has for over a decade now extolled the virtues of sulforaphane, a powerful compound present in sprouts.

Growing sprouts is easy, cheap, and satisfying. They are visually pleasing but their taste and smell is a bit… strong. I put just a little bit into my smoothies, ideally not enough to change the flavor, though perhaps that’s not as much as I could or should be consuming. Better than nothing.

I follow the recipe that came with the sprouting jars:

• Place fresh sprouting seeds in the jars (1.5 tablespoons in each jar).
• Soak in clean water for 6-8 hours, then drain completely.
• Rinse and strain twice a day. After rinsing, rotate the jars slowly so that the sprouts stick to the sides and have some space to breath.
• Be sure to empty the water from the drip tray as it gets smelly (literally sulfur).
• It takes about four days to go from seeds to what you see below. For the first two days, I keep the jar near my sink. For the last two days, I move them closer to the window to get more sun. They become greener that way.

Growing food is surprisingly fun – for me, it taps into some primal urge for ownership, independence, and efficiency. I hope to do more of it in the future.