I have begun to play around with sprouted grains in moderation. It is absolutely amazing to see the transformation of the little seeds right before your eyes! Yet another amazing example of Gods creation! I have cut grains out of my diet for the most part. I still eat white rice on occasion. Once I began to understand grains it became so clear that they are not meant to be eaten un-sprouted. The Nourishing Gourmet gives a great explanation of why it is so essential to sprout grains. White rice or in general grain with the bran removed is said to cause less digestive stress but then becomes a nutrient void starch. Eating sprouted grains offers a great balance. It takes time to let the grains sprout (or is quite expensive to buy pre sprouted) so by default it slows and lowers your intake of grains in general. However when you do eat them you will get a nutrient dense food that can add variation and texture to your meals. As always it is very important to be aware of how your body individually handles specific grains even sprouted. The most amazing part of my journey of healing my body and living healthy through food has been my awareness of the state of my body and how things affect it.
To sum up you will be seeing more recipes using sprouted grains as I experiment with using them more. As I pioneer this in my own life I want to make sure I start off with a explanation of just how simple it is to sprout your own grains. I hope to one day try to make my own sprouted grain flour. For now I am going to leave it as something to try someday but if you are interested this is a great post on it at Nourished Kitchen.
How to Sprout Brown Rice
I like to use a sprouting lid. They make a few different kinds.
There are some that are plastic like this one. You screw it onto a mason jar and it multi tasks. It lets the air flow in that the rice needs to sprout and it acts as a strainer during the process of re-soaking. You can also get metal screens that fit in the collar of a mason jar like this.
Here we go…
Add desired amount of brown rice to a mason jar. The size of jar depends on how much rice you are wanting to sprout. The rice can only take up ⅓-½ of the jar. Good quality rice is important as well. My favorite brand is Lundberg.
A good starting point is a cup of rice in a quart size mason jar.
Fill the jar the rest of the way with purified water.
Stop about an inch or two below the top of the jar.
Cover with a sprouting top of some sort and let sit for 12-24 hrs.
Then strain.
Fill the mason jar back up to the top put your strainer lid back on and as you turn the jar upside down (over a sink) shake it so the water swirls around each grain.
Once all of the water has drained out let sit on the counter for 24 hours.
Every once in awhile turn the jar sideways making sure each grain gets some air you can even leave the jar tipped over on its side for a while.
Continue this process of rinsing the rice and letting it sit once a day for a few days until you see little tails/sprouts appear.
At this point you can cook with it straight away or dried it for later use.
IF cooking with it right away note that it will cook in about half the time of non sprouted brown rice.