Sprouts & Microgreens

Sprouts are the fastest crop in the kitchen and the least forgiving, because the warm damp dark that suits the seed suits bacteria just as well. A symptom by symptom guide to reading a sprouting jar, telling root hairs from mould, and knowing when to start again.

Grain grass is the young leaf of wheat, barley or oat, grown thickly in a shallow tray and cut at about a week old. A fast indoor crop, and an honest look at what the juice is and is not.

The bean sprout in a stir fry is grown in the dark, under a weight, and cut young. Here is the method for thick, pale, crunchy mung bean sprouts at home, plus hulling, storage and the food safety part.

Start with alfalfa or mung bean, then branch by flavour: fenugreek for a nutty bitterness, broccoli for pepper, buckwheat and sunflower grey for chewy shoots on a tray. Includes the three seeds that should never go near a sprouting jar.

A wide mouth jar, a mesh lid and a rinse twice a day is the whole method. Here is how to soak, drain, grow, harvest and store sprouts on an ordinary kitchen bench, and how to keep them safe to eat.

A tray of seed-raising mix, a sunny bench and ten days: microgreens are the fastest crop there is. The best seeds, the method, the mould problem, and the food safety rules for sprouts and microgreens.

Broccoli and alfalfa sprouts are fast, easy and nutritious to grow in a jar. How they compare on nutrition and taste, how to grow both, and how to stay safe.