Bean sprouts

[feline01]

legumes? beans? What are their classification? Reason I ask is I just at a huge salad made with sauteed snow peans and mung bean sprouts and am wondering if I'm going to be entertaining my coworkers with a musical performance this afternoon. If I just consumed a huge bowl of beans, I should probably warn them .

Any recipe ideas for bean sprouts, particularly mung bean?

[PinkFluffyCloud]

When food is sprouted, the enzymes change, and I have found that they do not cause flatulence in the sprouted state, so you can all relax!!

[Mystic]

FYI, they are classified as legumes - but as PFC pointed out, they are a fart-proof means of incorporating legumes in the diet

[Pansypuss]

I just met someone who told me that unless beans are sprouted they are not only much better for you (which I knew) but also that unsprouted they actually aid the ageing process. I know that she has done a lot of research in books and on the net about it. I had a very quick look on the net but haven't spent ages and haven't found anything about this. Has anyone come across this? It sometimes seems to me that the more you know the less you'd rather know!

[herbwormwood]

I have read that soaking and sprouting beans releases enzymes which are very beneficial to health, and also that beans should at least be soaked until they are fully rehydrated before cooking in order to be properly digested.

As for aiding the ageing process, being alive aids the ageing process so I don't see how anyone could say for a fact that eating unsprouted beans does that.

Beans are an important source of protein, vitamins and minerals for vegans so I would be sceptical of anone advocating against them. They are a vegetable! and have been cultivated and eaten for thousands of years.

[Dart]

I have heard about beans being sprouted in the Raw Food Diet explanations. They might even tell you about the aging process, which could be based on digestion properties of food (if you have a hard time digesting food, then it can cause you more toxins in the body, which ages you).

[Risker]

Define the 'aging process', I assume it means makes you look older? Since the chances of something you eat affecting every part of your body to make it last less time are a bit remote imho. Unless of course it's a poison that kills you.

[Pansypuss]

I assume that 'ageing process' actually means the body wearing out rather than just looking older. As soon as we are born we start to age in the sense that we are then on the way to dying and there are a million things that 'aid the ageing process' so worrying about beans perhaps is a little silly! By eating vegan I know that we are doing lots towards to lengthening our lives (all supposing a bus doesn't get us!) even if those beans age us a little. I was having a bad day yesterday, there always seems something somewhere that pops up to tell us that we are wrong to be vegan.

[Dart]

I think worrying causes the ageing process to proceed faster also.

[journey]

I tried sprouting beans, got sprouts to begin, but before they were quite big enough to use (in my mind) they seemed to rot. What'd I do wrong?

I used lentils (what I had), soaked them one day, then rinsed them every day for about a week, kept in a jar turned upside down over a colander so they could drain.

Sprouted enough so tiny green leaves were only just starting - I tasted one and it seemed fine, but a little like raw beans so figured I leave them for a few more days. But by then they'd gotten a rotten smell, and suspicious brownness starting, so I didn't dare. Anybody have better experiences?

[harpy]

Hmm, I don't often sprout lentils - in fact the only legumes I do regularly are mung beans, and the rest are usually seeds. So what I say may not apply to lentils but FWIW:

1) I rinse mine twice a day
2) I eat them before they develop leaves or any green bits

This http://onehotstove.blogspot.com/2005...g-lentils.html suggests a week may be a bit long for lentils.

So maybe next time just stop a bit sooner. The raw taste is normal, it's part of the attraction in fact

[Aradia]

If you live in a warm climate you should be rinsing them AT LEAST three times a day. I live in southern France and last year didn't rinse them often enough (wasn't even all that hot) and I got a gippy tummy and lightheadedness. It's really important to rinse often as otherwise harmful enzymes can gather.

Also, how old were your lentils? If they are getting past their sell-by date they will not sprout so well.

[journey]

Yeah, I wondered if lentil would even be the best thing to sprout - it was just what I had handy. What types of seeds do you sprout? (and where do you get them, the grocery store?)

Yes it was very warm and humid here that week (mid-Atlantic U.S.) - probably needed to rinse much more.

The beans were new from the bulk store. I hadn't refridgerated these, but I assume if I had, they wouldn't have done very well after that either.

[harpy]

Mung beans are easy to sprout and you can get organic ones without too much trouble (here anyway). I also buy seeds for sprouting from health food shops - alfalfa, radish, broccoli, stuff like that, and sometimes premixed ones. You can also get them on the internet of course.

I wouldn't use ones that aren't intended for sprouting as I believe they sometimes get dusted with chemicals.

When it's really hot I sometimes have trouble with the seeds getting sort of rancid before they're ready to eat so I don't usually do them then - not that often a problem in a typical British summer though

[Aradia]

chickpeas are one of my fave sprouts ... great raw or in a stir fry with mung beans, chilli and a few veg. Drop the beans in right at the end of cooking time.

[Flying fairy]

I sprout lentils quite regularly. I usually sprout them for 4 or 5 days until they have a longish stalk, but I take them out just before they start growing leaves. Also, I don't soak them overnight first because I use ones which you don't need to soak before you boil them. But it sounds like you left them too long as they will rot eventually!

Chick peas are fantastic sprouted and Im doing some aduki beans at the moment.

[Metal Maniac]

Yep..they were left too long

For both lental and Mung..mostly lental just when you see the leaf form..take em out..rinse them good and place them in a very cold and dark spot,usually the crisper at the bottom of the fridge and they keep quite well!!!