If you want an easy, indoor, year-round, portable edible garden, Wanda Poindexter has one word for you: sprouts.
“Go forth and sprout,” she advised a recent class of about a dozen people who learned her simple method of turning seeds and beans into edible shoots.
Poindexter runs the classes for organizations throughout the Tucson area. It’s a community service she offers to tout the virtues of sprouting.
Wanda Poindexter spoons out seeds for students to take home and start sprouting during her class on sprouding seeds in jars at Little Chapel of All Nations library, 1401 E. First Street in Tucson, AZ. Photo taken Wednesday, August 19, 2015. Photo by Ron Medvescek / Arizona Daily Star.
They are many, she says. For one, you don’t have to worry about a garden in which you need land, soil, pest control or weeks and months of tending. “You don’t have to deal with that,” says the retired writing educator. “It’s just sprouts in a jar. You could do it in all four seasons.”
EASIER THAN SOIL GARDENS
Liz Richards, who took the recent class, says it’s a cinch for people who otherwise have failed in soil gardening.
“I’ve been trying for years to grow things in Tucson,” says Richards, who works for Precision Toyota of Tucson and grew up in Douglas. “Everything gets so burnt.”
Three days after taking the class, Richards had harvested lentil sprouts. The day after, mung sprouts were ready. In seven days, her broccoli and clover were well on their way. By then she had already grown several jars of lentil and mung sprouts to have a steady supply for salads, stir fry and smoothies.
Richards’ young, adult daughter who lives with her also took the class. “She’s hoping to move out soon,” Richards says, “and this is something she wants to continue to do because it’s so simple.”
It takes no more than 10 minutes a day to get seeds and beans sprouting, Poindexter says. They can be harvested in five to 10 days.
Creating sprouts requires a few minutes of rinsing seeds or beans and draining water. Because this occurs in small jars, growers like attorney Nicolette Kneup can carry her garden in a tote bag to take care of it at work.
GARDENING GATEWAY
Sprouting also became a gateway to other food production activity for Kneup, a prosecutor with the Pima County Attorney’s Office.
“I found out that sprouting is the fastest way you can grow your own food, but it’s also an excellent way to start your garden,” says Kneup, who took Poindexter’s class about a year ago.
Encouraged by her ability to grow sprouts, Kneup used the method to create seedlings for the soil garden. Then she learned to make jam and preserve her harvest.
“Learning sprouting made me interested in learning more about growing food and keeping food,” she says.
Kneup eats her homegrown sprouts in salads and sandwiches.
For Patricia DeWitt, sprouts give crunchiness to her salmon wraps. She’s discovered that clover and radish sprouts add a spicy flavor to dishes.
“It’s an easy way to get great nutrition,” says DeWitt, another former student of Poindexter.
VALUABLE NUTRITION
There’s no argument on that issue from Tracy Crane.
She’s a registered dietitian and a study coordinator for the University of Arizona’s LIvES study, which examines how lifestyle changes, including diet, may prevent the recurrence of ovarian cancer.
“We know eating vegetables can reduce the risk of cancer,” Crane says.
Sprouts count in increasing one’s amount of daily servings.
Some sprouts, like those from broccoli, are high in cancer-fighting phytochemicals, she says.
Alfalfa sprouts are among a list of fruits and vegetables that provide high levels of antioxidants, according to a study by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service.
Eating foods high in antioxidants may slow aging processes, the study says.
Even at a basic level of nutrition, Crane says, sprouts are worth eating. They are a good source of fiber, are “a little bit easier to digest” than unsprouted grain, and are packed with nutrients, she says.
Crane cautions that bacterial contamination of sprouts is a real health issue.
All equipment used for sprouting should be sterilized, she says, and sprouts should be stored in the refrigerator.
“When (the sprouts) smell funny,” she says, “you should get rid of them.”
