bernadette miller

This is part 2 of a piece of work about all things sprouting. Part 1 takes you through the basics of what you can sprout and how to sprout it. There are also guidelines for specific sprouts. Finally, Part 1 is also where you will find a list of sprouting resources and literature. Part 2 focuses on how to eat and cook with sprouts as well as many of the nutritional benefits of them.

How to Eat Sprouts

Spring is springing in northern lands. People are planting gardens and sauntering in sunny fields. Winter was filled with frozen and canned foods; robust root vegetables; and perhaps some wilted greens from faraway lands. We are hungry for fresh foods. If you are lucky, you may possess a garden stocked with asparagus, rhubarb, and other spring perennials. Or perhaps you are fortunate enough to live near a source of ramps, fiddlehead ferns, stinging nettles, or dandelions. Dandelions are much maligned but they offer a myriad of nutritional benefits. Even if you live in a high-rise apartment building with houseplants as your only companions from the kingdom Plantae, you can still grow great food.  

This is part-three in a three-part series about fermentation. Part-one contains information related to the nutritional value of fermented foods. It also touches upon the role that fermentation might play in personal, societal, and ecological renewal. It concludes with recipes for fermented vegetables. Part-two deals with dairy products and their non-dairy counterparts. This section is devoted to fermented grain products.

"Wow, that pink blob is moving. You are not going to eat it, are you?" I glanced at the dosa batter which was bright pink because it contained red lentils. It was creeping dangerously close to the top of the container. "Oh yes," I replied. 

This is part-two in a three-part series about fermentation. Part-one contains information related to the nutritional value of fermented foods. It also touches upon the role that fermentation might play in personal, societal, and ecological renewal. It concludes with recipes for fermented vegetables. This section deals with dairy products and their non-dairy counterparts. Part-three will be devoted to fermented grain products.

The airport security worker eyed my three-once bottles with suspicion. I feigned indifference and fought off the urge to speak. A jar of home-made nut butter had been confiscated from me after I had explained what it was. So I thought it best not to expound upon fermentation and the revitalization of local food traditions. Instead I simply prayed that the sourdough starter might pass for shampoo. What the blood-red beverage of fermented beets might be taken for I dared not imagine.

Header photo: Burdock by Shastared

The day might have made a magnificent postcard. Spring was staining trees with subtle hints of summer. A stream was carrying on an animated conversation with raindrops. Rocks were locked in a shining dual with water. Some humans, armed with buckets, boots, and plastic suits, stumbled toward the stream. They worked in silence, selecting tender sections of watercress. Then one of them spoke: "This is beautiful. It looks like a rain forest." I shot a surprised glance at the speaker. Blood sucking insects and relentless rain had clouded my beauty sensors. But the world in which we waded was indeed exquisite.