Alfalfa sprouts are so good! We used to buy them at the grocery store. We’d take this little plastic box home, open it and find alfalfa sprouts that were overpacked and soggy. So during my shopping splurge at Botanical Interests I bought Alfalfa Seeds for sprouting.
The packet states that alfalfa seeds have the possibility of carrying E. coli and other foodborne bacteria, so the alfalfa seeds must be disinfected with a 2% bleach solution (1 teaspoon bleach to a cup of hot water). I’m not a big fan of bleach, especially when it comes to my food. Last I checked, bleach is toxic. So here’s what I did:
I put 1 tablespoon alfalfa seeds in a quart mason jar, filled the jar with tap water and then put a 1/4 teaspoon of food-grade Hydrogen Peroxide (I brush my teeth with it too, but don’t try it unless you have absolutely no metal dentistry in your mouth). Let the alfalfa seeds sit disinfecting for 15 minutes. See the bubbles in the picture below? That’s the hydrogen peroxide doing its thing.
Then I trapped a mesh net on the mouth of the jar with the band. I used the mesh net that my grocery-bought ginger was packaged in.
When I poured the hydrogen peroxide water out, the mesh net trapped the alfalfa seeds in the jar. I refilled the jar with tap water poured in through the mesh lid. I let it sit overnight in a dark place.
First thing the next morning, I poured out the water through the mesh lid, shook the seeds around so that they’re kind of stuck on the inside wall of the jar. I let the jar sit in the dark on its side so the seeds are all spread out instead of stuck together at the bottom of the jar.
Rinse and repeat. About 3 times a day, I filled the jar with tap water, shook it around, poured the water out and let the alfalfa seeds sit in the dark spread out over the inner wall of the jar.
After 2 days the alfalfa seeds were sprouting. I put the jar out to get some sun, still doing the rinse-pour thing 3 times a day. With chlorophyll and the sun the sprouts got little baby green leaves on them. Time to eat!
Why go to all this trouble? Here’s 9 Health Benefits of Alfalfa Sprouts.