DEAR SPROUTMAN: My sprouts are brown, small, and all dry on top. They have never grown up even though I’ve waited the proper number of days. – WIMPY
DEAR WIMPY: You’re sprouts are suffering from a condition known as “oishgetrichundosis.” This means they’re all dried up. They were probably not protected well enough during the first few days. Once dried up, sprouts will not grow, even if you treat them properly later.
© Copyright – Steve Meyerowitz, Sproutman® All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
DEAR SPROUTMAN: Can you tell me about your friend, Chlorella? – TOO SHY
DEAR SHY: Chlorella is a Superfood with an ancient past. She is a single-celled, round green algae that has been around for 2.5 billion years. In terms of nutrition, chlorella is 50 – 60% protein (soy is 39%, wheat is 10%, and rice is 7%). Chlorella contains all the amino acids – both essential and nonessential – in excellent balance, making it comparable with any animal protein. It is also especially high in vitamin A (in the form beta-carotene), iron, zinc, and vitamin B12.
Chlorella has 5 times more chlorophyll and more vitamin A than spirulina. (Spirulina, on the other hand, is 60 – 70% protein and has more vitamin B12). Although wheat grass and barley grass are 50% protein and contain the highest amount of chlorophyll of all land-grown plants, they only have about one-fifth the chlorophyll of chlorella, which is grown in fresh water
© Copyright – Steve Meyerowitz, Sproutman® All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
DEAR SPROUTMAN: I regularly mix carrot and apple juice together. But my friend who read about food combining says that fruit and vegetables don’t mix. Has he gone bananas? – FRUITY
DEAR FRUITY: Hold onto your skins. Those food combining rules are primarily concerned with solid foods and their interactions in the stomach. Juices are pure water extracts which pass right through the stomach and digest in the small intestine. Not all liquids mix well, but they allow for a great deal more versatility than foods. In either case, apples are a good mix because they are high in pectin and digestive enzymes such as malic acid. Therefore the old saying: “an apple a day keeps the doctor away…” No banana can say that.
© Copyright – Steve Meyerowitz, Sproutman® All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
DEAR SPROUTMAN: I’ve made seed yogurt now several times and still there’s no whey. Why? – DEHYDRATED
DEAR DEHYDRATED: Water is the most important ingredient in life. Use it. Your yogurts are suffering from a condition known as lowfluiditis. When blending, add between 1 and 2 cups of water to the 1 cup of nuts or seeds. Remember that some seeds require more water than others. So give it to them, and they will show you the whey.
© Copyright – Steve Meyerowitz, Sproutman® All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
DEAR SPROUTMAN: My sprouts need more greening, but I’m afraid to take them out of the refrigerator because the weather is so hot. – CLOSED IN
DEAR CLOSED IN: Keep them refrigerated during the day, but give them vita-lite at night. Temperatures are cooler at night, so you can risk taking them out. Vita-lites, unlike incandescent bulbs, generate little or no heat, and provide a full spectrum of light.
© Copyright – Steve Meyerowitz, Sproutman® All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
by Sproutman® Steve Meyerowitz
Here’s a list of my favorite sprouts. . . What they taste like. . . What they look like. . . How to grow them. . . and How many days they take to grow.
KEY:
VERTICAL describes any type of sprouts that allows the sprouts to grow straight up, just like plants grow in an outdoor garden.
BAG describes one of my favorite methods of growing sprouts—with a sprout bag. If you don’t have one of these fabric bags, you can substitute with a jar. But jar sprouting it not as good because it does not breathe or drain perfectly and that causes problems.
DAYS describes how many days it takes for the sprouts to be ready for harvest. It can vary up or down a day depending on temperature and season.
© Copyright – Steve Meyerowitz, Sproutman® All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
DEAR SPROUTMAN: It’s 7 days after planting. I’ve just had my first harvest. The weather is very hot and the sprouts look limp and soggy in spots. – HOTTER THAN HOT
DEAR HOTTER THAN HOT: These sprouts are suffering from heatstroke. Clean them thoroughly, throwing out any rotted portions. Refrigerate and finish as soon as possible.
© Copyright – Steve Meyerowitz, Sproutman® All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
by Sproutman® Steve Meyerowitz
There are countless excellent reasons for creating an organic kitchen garden. Here I will illuminate ten:
© Copyright – Steve Meyerowitz, Sproutman® All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
DEAR SPROUTMAN: Whatever happened to Spirulina? It’s hard to find and no one is taking it anymore. Does this mean it’s no good? CINDERELLA
DEAR CINDERELLA: Just like you, when midnight came, Spirulina had to give up its spot in the limelight. But that doesn’t make you any less of a princess. Spirulina is still the highest protein source of any food, plant or animal. The same is true for its vitamin B-12. This micro-algae is now grown mostly indoors in Southern California to control is quality, purity and flavor. Mix it with carrot or apple juice and it makes the most natural protein powder available also one of our richest sources of chlorophyll, trace minerals, and enzymes. Drink up.
© Copyright – Steve Meyerowitz, Sproutman® All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
by Sproutman® Steve Meyerowitz
Sprouts? Are they garnish, or are they food?
Many who don’t know much about sprouts put them in the same category as parsley, a garnish that you put on your food but not much of a food in itself. That’s not my view. Anyone who takes the time to discover sprouts will learn that they are simply baby plants and some of those plants are widely used in cuisines around the world. If I were to mention, broccoli, cabbage, garlic, onion, chives, radish, buckwheat, lentils, peas, mustard, rye, you would likely acknowledge that you consume these foods. And if I were to mention alfalfa, farmers the world over would tell how important it is to them, their land, and their animals. All of these foods are essential of our food chain. It just so happens, that these are all fast growing plants and if you were to examine them after only a week’s time, you would already notice their green leaves starting. Even at this early stage, these plants provide the full flavor of the fully grown adult vegetables. In the case of alfalfa, the adult plant’s leaves are just a little bit too chewy to be considered delectable by people, but its baby leaves are perfectly scrumptious.
These baby plants offer something else that just amazing flavor. Flavor does not exist in a vacuum. Flavor represents the presence of vitamins, minerals, enzymes, antioxidants, carotenes, phyto-hormones, and an amazing array of important compounds. So when you taste the richness of flavor in these young plants, you are reminded of the concentration of nutrient contained within them. In fact, the baby plants contain a higher concentration of nutrients per gram than the adult plants. Gram for gram, you get more vitamins from your one week old broccoli sprouts, than you do from the adult broccoli, no matter how beautiful it looks and regardless of whether it was organically grown. In fact, researchers at John’s Hopkins University in the U.S. found that 5 day old broccoli sprouts contain 10-100 more important anti-cancer enzymes, called glucosinolates, than the adult broccoli.
Since the young plants grow so quickly and easily, I found myself, a city boy, becoming an indoor farmer. Why not, it’s easy, it’s healthy, and there is no better food in the world than fresh, organic greens harvested minutes before eating. You don’t need a scientist to tell you that.
ADVANTAGES OF GROWING SPROUTS
For more information on the miracle of sprouts, check out my book: Sprouts • The Miracle Food
© Copyright – Steve Meyerowitz, Sproutman® All Rights Reserved Worldwide.
