One of the easiest and least expensive ways to get started sprouting is to sprout using a mason jar, and one of the fastest seeds to sprout is wheat. Canning jars are easy to come by (especially if you do any canning). They can be purchased new or bought at thrift stores or yard sales or on craigslist, etc. for very little cost. To use your jar for sprouting you’ll need a mesh lid. You can purchase a specialty sprouting lid or make one yourself. I made mine from a piece of vinyl screening from the hardware store.
I’ve heard of people using a couple layers of mesh fabric (depending on the size of the holes in the mesh and what they’re wanting to sprout), or a piece of clean nylon stocking. You want something that will keep all your seeds in and allow for some air circulation. If you’re making your own lid, you’ll want to screw it on with a newer canning ring–not one that’s going to rust on you as there’s plenty of moisture involved in sprouting and you don’t want your sprouts getting all “rusty” from the lid.
And today we’re sprouting wheat in our jar. You do have some wheat, right? Any hard wheat is fine–red or white doesn’t matter. You can even sprout wheat that has been stored with oxygen absorbers (just in case you’ve heard that food storage myth going around). This process will be similar to the sprouting we did in the sprouting tray, it just looks a little different because it’s in a jar.
Step 1: Soak your seeds. You can do this right in the jar. Use 2-3 times the amount of water as seed. 6-8 hours or overnight is good.
Step 2: Drain the soak water. Just tip the jar upside down over the sink or your favorite plant.
Step 3: Rinse and drain. We’ll give the wheat seeds a super fresh start by giving them a rinse right before putting them away.
Step 4: Find a nice dark place to store your jar where you won’t forget it. I put mine in the kitchen cupboard. You’ll need to prop your jar so it can continue to drain, but the air supply isn’t cut off and give it something to drain into. Sometimes you can prop it with other things in the cupboard and let it drain into a little tupperware type container. I also like to roll the seeds around the jar (some will stick to the sides) before putting it in the cupboard so they’re not all stuck in a pile on each other.
Step 5: Rinse and drain 2-4 times a day. Just fill the jar with water, swish it around, and dump it out. Super easy. I do this a couple of times a day–usually around breakfast and dinner time. Wheat sprouts only need to be in the sprouter for 1-2 days. You want the sprout tail to be about as long as the wheat kernel or shorter (I like it shorter). The longer they get, the more “green” they taste. How fast they grow will be affected by the ambient temperature and whether they are kept moist or not. Taste them along the way and see at what point in the sprouting process you like the flavor best.
1 1/2 days in the jar=Just perfect!
Step 6: Storage. If you don’t eat all your sprouts right away, they can be stored in the refrigerator in the jar.
Sprouting using a jar is an inexpensive way to test out sprouting. There are a couple of minor drawbacks to sprouting in a jar, but none too serious. One is that if you’re growing long sprouts, they’re not as “pretty” as they are in a tray. They don’t grow tall and straight, they just kind of end up in a bundle. Another drawback is that the jar doesn’t get quite as good of air circulation as other methods of sprouting. Because of this I like to rinse my sprouts more often when I’m growing them in a jar. And lastly, being able to rinse and drain without taking the lid off the jar is nice, but makes it hard to steal a pinch of sprouts during the growing process! :)
So see if you’ve got some wheat and a jar around and rig up a lid for it so you can get some sprouted wheat growing! Super yummy for a snack or putting on salad or in bread.