Wheat: Sprouts, Wheatgrass, and ...for Cat Lovers.

[Clary]

I found these well-illustrated, scaled-down instructions (and then an even shorter time investment suggestion from the comments section) for growing wheat sprouts and wheat grass, ...and a treat for Kitty.

http://safelygatheredin.blogspot.com/20 ... grass.html

From the comments section on the post:
Your indoor cats will love you for growing wheat grass.
I've been doing this for years, but I just lay the dry wheat berries on the dirt, water them well, then stand back and wait for them to grow. It only takes a few days, and skips several of the early steps in your process.

A few ideas:
The wheat in the sprouted stage can be added to soups, stews, chilis; McDougall approved breads, cookies, pie crusts, muffins, etc.; salads; smoothies, used as a hot cereal, etc.

The wheat grass (cheap, fresh, living greens) can be added to most any dish if harvested when young and fresh, --and can be added to smoothies. Clip first into very small pieces.

RECIPE IDEA
Plain n Simple Sprouted Wheat Wafers
This is a sweet tasting wafer similar to a "wheat thin" cracker.
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Ingredients:
Sprout two cups of wheat so the sprout is 1 1/2 times the size of the wheat kernel. Grind on fine or chop fine in a blender. A touch of salt is optional. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Spread the mixture paper thin on the paper, and place in a slow oven (200 degrees or less), and allow to dry out. Break into pieces.

--or, dry in your dehydrator.

Flavor Variations: add any single or combination of herbs, or any choices from Mrs. Dash, for instance.

[Chile]

Good reminder, Clary. I've sprouted wheat before but keep forgetting to do it again. Yesterday, I picked up two sprouting lids for jars at a yard sale. When I get them cleaned up, I'll start some wheat and maybe one of the other seeds I have on hand for sprouting.

I also picked up a hanging solar dehydrator recently that can be used as a sprouter as well.

[AnnaS]

I use the bag method! I have some hemp sprouting bags. First you soak the wheat berries overnight in water, then rinse and dump into the bag. Make sure the bag is thoroughly wet. I hang this near the sink and every twelve hours give it a good swishing and rinse. Once the berries have started sprouting, I spread them out onto a growing tray with some moistened growing mix (vermicullite and potting soil, or anything similar). Cover this so it won't dry out and keep it relatively dark until the sprouts are an inch or two high, then bring it out into the sunlight to green up.

My kitties love this!

[Clary]

Chile, is there a brand name on your hanging solar dehydrator/sprouter? I'd like to learn more about that. Are the lids the colored plastic ones? Using lids on the jars speeds up the tending process to almost nothing--a couple minutes a day. What other seeds have you had success sprouting?

Thanks for the ideas, geoffrey and Anna. I've always used the wide-mouth, one qt. glass canning jars for my sprouts, and graduated from using a piece of cheese cloth or panty hose (back in the day! )on top fastened with a rubber band, to sets of various sized mesh openings plastic lids. I am always eager to learn ways to cut down on prep and processing time and the attention needed.

I opened one of my #10 sized cans of wheat berries this morning that we canned at an LDS ("Mormon") cannery in Nashville in 10/2002. The cannery was opened to the public until fairly recently.

I planted one tub full according to the person's comments in my first post--dry, right out of the can directly on to potting soil, then watered them, and covered the tub with a few layers of wet newspaper. This is a first time experiment. In the past I have always gone through the soak, rinse, rinse, rinse, etc. routine, then layered the sprouts on the soil and covered them with the wet paper, and then slid plastic bags over the whole thing for 2-3 days, until the sprouts took hold and rooted.

So, I started this one tub today from dry wheat berries. I started a soaking jar process, also--like I've done it since the 70's and can judge the outcome, to compare, and also to check out the viability of this particular stored, almost-7-yr.-old wheat.

My usual test is, if seeds won't sprout, there is no life in them.

I possibly have a move in the near future and need to sprout, sprout, sprout to use up a variety of seeds I have kept refrigerated. In any case, like you Chile, I need to use these seeds.

A few weeks back, I came across a jar of forgotten alfalfa sprouts in the back of my refrige on a clean-out day. They were mostly just a hair-y looking mass of dried out sprouts, with a small damp area on the side of the jar facing down. I dumped then outside in my little teeny tiny compost pile (about 15" x 12" ) right outside my door in the apt. area where they have landscaping bushes. I covered them and forgot about it.

One day, I walked out the door and saw dozens and dozens of baby greens beginning to grow! They turned into spindly little things, but were fun to watch. In a day or two, I will turn them under to add to my compost.

[Chile]

Clary, it's the "food PANtrie" as pictured here. I got it before my 10% off coupon expires in early August. Go here for a picture of it with sprouts. You can download the manual there, but let me warn you, it is very poorly written.

[Chile]

Are the lids the colored plastic ones? What other seeds have you had success sprouting?

Sorry, forgot to answer your other two questions.

The lids are plastic-rimmed but the mesh is wire.

I've sprouted alfalfa in the past but nothing else other than the wheat. I've got a variety I need to try!