Most people start their journey in to sprouting with sprouting jars, due to their simplicity and cheap set-up cost. There are some important things to consider when choosing your sprouter though and these are outlined below. But first, let’s take a look at the process for growing sprouts using a sprouting jar!
How to use your sprouting jars
- Place the desired amount of seed in the bottom of the jar (remember some sprouts will need plenty of room to grow)
- Fill the jar with luke warm water and soak over night (make sure there is plenty of water to allow the seeds to swell)
- Drain the water the next morning and rinse the seeds well until the rinsing water is clean
- Drain the water out completely (it is advisable to have the jar inverted at an angle on a rack to allow all of the water to drain)
- Rinse 2-3 times a day to ensure the sprouts do not spoil
Using sprouting jars offers several key benefits and drawbacks that should be considered, depending on the volume of sprouts you intend to grow.
Benefits:
- Cheap to set-up
- Readily available
- Can be made at home
- They do actually grow some sprouts!
- They do produce reasonable results if handled properly
- Sprouting jars are quite easily cleaned
- Mesh lids are now available to make rinsing easier
Drawbacks:
- The sprouts must be rinsed 2-3 times daily (this may not fit in to your lifestyle)
- Drainage can be sub-standard which can lead to mold and spoil
- Air flow is quite poor, which can also result in spoiling
- Sprouts can break when being rinsed and drained, which causes them to spoil
- Larger sprouts can fill the jar making them hard to remove
- They take up valuable space in your kitchen, particularly if you use a rack to angle them for draining
- Using multiple jars to produce larger amounts becomes much more consuming of time and space
- Can use excessive amounts of water for rinsing if water is scarce
So sprouting jars will grow you some sprouts and you will probably lose some too through spoiling if you miss one of your rinsing cycles! Whenever the drawbacks outweigh the benefits, this is far from what we would consider to be ideal… It is however a reasonable way for kids to try sprouting as they can look in and see the growing sprouts, although the glass jars can be a little dangerous when handling wet for little hands! There are several other types of sprouters on the market and we will be looking at some of them in more detail. If you want to jump straight to our recommendation, find out what we feel is the Ultimate Sprouter.
