This seed sprouting business isn’t as quick and easy as we’d been led to believe. That picture shows our beansprouts after five days of growth. By six days they should have finished growing, but to my eyes they look nothing like a regular shop-bought beansprout.
We started them off in a jar of water, as the instructions dictated, and then transferred them to the seed sprouter the next day. Since then we’ve rinsed them through twice a day every day and kept them nice and warm in the kitchen.
Now admittedly, in terms of sheer bulk, they are a lot bigger than they were when we started them off – probably four times larger or so, but they’re nowhere near the healthy, long, slender beansprouts pictured on the front of the packet.
Either we are doing something wrong or the packet picture lies.
I’ll keep them going for another couple of days and see what happens. If there’s not much more growth perhaps we should just try eating them.
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Growing them in darker conditions makes them whiter. Mine are on a North facing kitchen window sill, so they are half and half, but I prefer them that way, compared to all white ones. To get them to grow longer, they need to be in a jar with a weight pressing them down.
This is a good link :
http://www.sproutpeople.com/devices/print/easysprout.html
which says >>
“Mungs will grow bigger thicker roots if weight is applied to them. Invert the Dome Lid (dome facing down into Growing Vessel) while sprouting and put weight on or in it. You should soak 1.3 cups of Mung Beans if you want to grow the biggest thickest roots as the mass created by the high volume of beans will aid in the root growth. Use a plate or other object that can rest on or in the inverted Dome Lid – experiment to see what works best for you in your climate and at different times of year – but start by trying an object that weighs 1 – 2 pounds. When your sprouts are so big that the inverted Dome Lid can no longer rest on them set the lid dome up and continue sprouting – the mass of sprouts will do the rest.
The other key to Mung sprouting is to keep the seeds/sprouts in place. Rinse with a sprayer if possible and keep the water pressure low enough to keep the beans from moving. This will make the roots grow down (it’s a nature thing) and because space is tight the roots will grow thicker (it’s a mung thing). Mungs are the only bean sprout we do this with. “