Sprout It Out Loud

Enlightenment, Day 198: Vegging Out

 

If you liked the idea of raising Sea Monkeys as a kid, you will love growing your own bean sprouts.  Personally, I found Sea Monkey reality a grave disappointment.  Everyday, I would squint into the crappy magnified plastic container, point at a bubble or other floaty fleck, and ask my dad, “Is that  one??” “When will they grow hair and legs?”  “Will they be able to talk?”  Obviously, I was expecting the happy finned family on the box instead of the miniscule creepy shrimp things without smiles, much less faces.   I wanted to perform the 1, 2, 3 packet alchemy and then have something amazing happen so I could raise my hands in the air and shout, “It’s Alive!!”  But the results were never that dramatic.  Fortunately, bean sprouting totally satisfied this mad scientist craving of mine. I wish I’d known about them as a kid. They would have been so much cooler than stupid sea monkeys.  Everyday the sprouts transform into something different – something which truly warrants hands in the air shouting as far as I’m concerned. And the best part is –  you can eat them! (Unlike the sea monkeys, which you can’t eat unless you’re a whale, according to my dad.) 

With only 31 calories, about a cup of mung beansprouts will provide 7% of your daily value of fiber, 6% protein, 23% vitamin C, 43% vitamin K, 6% thiamin, 8% roboflavin,  4% niacin, 5% vitamin B6, 16% folate, 4% pantothenic acid, 1% calcium, 5% iron, 5% magnesium, 6% phosphorus, 4% potassium, 3% zinc, 9% copper, 10% manganese, 1 % selenium, 16.6 mg omega-3 fatty acids, 43.7 mg omega-6 fatty acids (based on a 2,000 calorie reference diet).

Here are annotated references for studies that show the health effects of various types of sprouts: http://www.isga-sprouts.org/MainSproutNutritionPoints.pdf

And here are their baby pictures!

Mung Sprouts, Day 1

Day 2 - Eeeeyaaa!

Day 3

Day 4 – It’s ALIVE!!

Day 4 is looking sparse because I kept eating them and taking them places before I remembered to photograph them.