my new hobby (food-related!)

[mint]

Today, I bought a germoire in which to sprout seeds.  I also bought a packet of alfalfa seeds and one of mung beans.

Going to start off tomorrow.  Does anyone on the forum do this?  Are there any tips?  Do you need to keep the thing in the dark or is anywhere in the kitchen OK?

All answers eagerly anticipated and appreciated[:)]

[woolybanana]

Why?

[Gardengirl]

That’s something I do from time to time, Mint, although I just use a jam jar with holes in the lid. I put the seeds in, add water, rinse, add water again and leave the seeds for about 12 hours.

Then I thoroughly drain them by turning the jar upside down and rinse well, then put the jar on its side somewhere dark. I leave them at room temperature, rinsing and draining 2or 3 times a day. Once the seeds are fully sprouted, 3-5 days depending on the seeds, they get well-rinsed and well-drained then I put them in the fridge. I usually use them in two or three days. Very tasty and supposed to be good for you. Bon appetit!

[mint]

"somewhere dark"......ok, so will have to be in le dressing, le sous-sol or even le pantry?[:D]

I'm glad you say they are tasty as I seem to crave strong-tasting or spicy or salted or sugary or well perhaps just food...........[:-))]

Can't eat much at each sitting though and gone off all teas and infusions and all things insipid.....

[woolybanana]

A few years ago the seeds for many of these things were withdrawn from sale after it was discovered that they carried some nasty disease (ecoli?); sourced from Egypt, they were not produced in 'ideal' conditions and thus carried something hideous. I remember trying to buy some locally only to be told that they had all been destroyed.

So, ladies, be careful where you source them from!

[idun]

http://www.lemonde.fr/planete/article/2011/06/11/e-coli-la-responsabilite-des-graines-germees-est-confirmee_1535157_3244.html

I remembered that happening too......... the link should be live. So mint,  take care doing this.

[Chancer]

I used to do it but now that the industrial washing machine is on several times a day for the flats my own washing gets done at the same time so no longer decomposes in the laundry bin long enough to germinate.

[Gardengirl]

Yes, buying seeds requires the same care as buying other food.

Years ago in the UK Edwina Curry warned everyone off eggs, and recently throughout much of Europe eggs have been

contaminated with a toxic insecticide.

[mint]

[quote user="Chancer"]I used to do it but now that the industrial washing machine is on several times a day for the flats my own washing gets done at the same time so no longer decomposes in the laundry bin long enough to germinate.[/quote]

Perhaps you should still separate out your own laundry and sprinkle seeds on it to see if you can "grow your own"?

My packets of seeds were bought at the bio coop so I am quite confident of using them.  Bearing in mind, who CAN be absolutely confident of ALL food these days?  If it's not horse meat masquerading as beef, sell-by-date stuff re-labeled and goodness knows what else, to be "safe", you'd have to live on water and plain air.................but, wait a minute, hasn't water sources been known to be contaminated and air to be polluted?[6]

[woolybanana]

Nimt, next time you pop down the road to your bio coop, just ask them where the seed is sourced from, and remind them of the bit of trouble a few years ago, just to play safe.

Nothing wrong with horse meat, by the way, but the sell-by-date scandal was more serious.

[Pommier]

Mint, please don't eat these raw! https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/types/fruits/sprouts.html

[richard51]

You quote from a USA website. Go to the section on eggs and they recommend that they must always be cooked thoroughly. They may be over-cautious but I am no expert.

Drifting a bit, but today I was collecting apples from our trees in the UK. Bags of the darned things so I wondered if I could donate to a foodbank. Appears that they only require tinned fruit. The apples on the tree of our neighbours in France had all fallen and left to rot when we left on Sunday. What a waste.

[mint]

Thanks for the warnings, guys.  I intend to try them anyway because I do buy salads, tomatoes and peppers and such and eat them raw.

I WAS warned not to eat raw foods recently when I had a low white blood cell count but, as far as I know, that went back up.  Sometimes, risks have to be weighed up and I feel that, on this occasion, the risks are minimal.

If I suddenly disappear from the forum, you'd know that the sprouts have done me in[:-))]

Richard, your post makes me think of one of Patf's.  She had eggs from her hens and wanted to donate them to a food charity local to her but they wouldn't accept it.  This was in France and I know nothing about in the UK.

[Pommier]

Richard51 The advice is pretty similar from the NHS http://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/homehygiene/Pages/sprouted-seeds-advice.aspx

[mint]

It's only a couple of posts back when I mentioned the scale of food contamination and voilà, this morning I found this story:

[url]http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4931358/Chicken-hygiene-shame-supermarket-supplier-s-factory.html[/url]

Back to the profit motive then?  Perhaps chlorinated chicken from the US would indeed be safer?

[richard51]

Are we all (over 65) going on a diet then (same NHS website)

http://www.nhs.uk/LiveWell/over60s/Pages/Foods-to-avoid-for-over-65s.aspx

[mint]

TBH, Richard, I think they'd just like us older folk to keel over and die in order for the state to save money[6]

No soft cheese, no proper mayonnaise, no cured meats or fish or seafood other than after they have been frozen or boiled to a tasteless mess.

Would life be worth living without so many pleasures of the table?

I remember how older people used to live almost excusively on mince with mashed potatoes and gravy.  The excuse was that they had no teeth and thus have difficulty chewing.

In my innocence, I thought, OK then, when my time comes I'd live on oysters and caviar because THEY do not need chewing................of course, on the list provided, they are now on the red list[:P]

Will there be no end to the ill-treatment of the elderly? 

Live well and a little dangerously......you will then have nothing to regret further down the line![:D]

[mint]

They are growing, my little sprouts!

Wish now I hadn't called them "my babies" as in, let's see how my babies are doing this morning!

Now it looks like I shall have to eat these babies in a day or two.................

Is there a word to mean "eating babies"?[:-))]

[idun]

Ofcourse there is[:P]

'Miam miam'[Www]

And I love Jelly Babies, so I eat my babies every night....... three of them[:D]

[mint]

Miam miam is TWO words!  But you have made me smile.

[Gardengirl]

Mint, you intrigued me! Apparently ‘brephophagist’ specifically means "one who eats babies".

Idun, do you bite their heads off first?

[mint]

GG, I love that word![:D]

[idun]

LOL GG, I think I had some ritual when I was 5, but not now, I just eat them.

Now my eating ritual is for a 99[Www]

[Gardengirl]

Idun, I haven’t had any since I was little, don’t think I’ve seen them for years, but as I read your post I remembered biting their heads off.

Our nearly 3 year old granddaughter takes great pleasure in biting off the heads of gingerbread men (and gingerbread women when we make them).

Mint, bon appetit!

[mint]

I bet if Freud were alive, he'd be mighty interested in you two![:D]