Mung Bean Sprouts, Sprouting Mung Beans for Super Protein!
If you've never had mung bean sprouts your in for a real treat. These crunchy, yet juicy tasting little legumes are the perfect protein food to add to many superfood meals. Because they are sprouted, they have the stored super-potent energy ready to sprout another mung bean plant. That means that we get that energy when we eat them!
Many beans are hard as a rock, so you either need to cook them or sprout them. We use garbanzo beans cooked and fermented in our homemade tempeh and homemade miso recipes, but other beans like green mung bean and lentils, we like to sprout. They just taste better and definitely FEEL better.
I find that the smaller the bean, the more I like it when it is sprouted rather than cooked. Bigger legumes like garbanzo, I prefer cooked rather than sprouted raw. Some people can handle them, but for me they just cause digestive troubles.
We've been eating sprouted mung beans for a couple weeks now, after Ken went through a mung sprouting phase. Its good to switch up your super sprouting and make single jars of different sprouts every month. We told you about our broccoli seed and onion seed sprouting adventures, now mung is the star of the show this month.
They are so adorable looking, they remind me of tiny little pollywags ready to hatch. I've been enjoying the instant energy buzz every time I eat them. And they always seem to digest VERY well, even when combine with nuts and seeds. I ate the on nut meat tacos last night... super yum! I also use them in my seaweed salad recipe, they are the perfect combo with seaweed.
Sprouting Mung Beans:
3/4C dried green mung bean
Soak in a quart jar for 12 hours
Strain with a sprout lid
Continue the rinsing process every day
They will be ready in about 2-3 days at 70 degrees
It is good to try to remove some of the green hulls by soaking them in water and allowing the hulls to float to the top. Then you can skim them off easily. Otherwise, they are fine to eat and just add a little more fiber.
When your mung bean sprouts are ready, they will have 1/4-1/2 inch roots coming out of their green bean body.
One other thing you can do with your mung sprouts is dehydrate them, so you get a crunchy nut snack to munch on. They are delicious this way with a salt and some herbs and spices. Of course, dehydration will deplete the nutrients a little, but they will still retain a lot more than snacks, like popcorn, for example.
Sprouted Green Mung Bean Nutrition
Mung bean sprouts contain about 20% protein, with other vitamins like Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Potassium, Amino Acids, and Vit A, B, C and E.
They are a protein-rich food, as far as sprouts go, and a great way to get more protein into your diet, especially if you are mostly eating a vegan diet. They are also easy to add to many savory dishes because they seem to go with everything!
