sprouts27.12.09

Dear Friends,

The weather continues to be confused! See what grew in the garden!

As you know, the sunflower is a summer crop, but this plant is flourishing at the moment.

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After our broccoli sprouts spoiled last week, I figured I ought to tell you more about sprouts.

Sprouts are the most delicate crop, and with them it is easiest to see the "magic" of growing. Sprouts are very sensitive to environmental conditions and respond to them relatively quickly because they are in a critical stage of growth. Sprouts take about a week to grow and are, of course, very dependant on heat, humidity, and light. In the summer they grow quicker and in winter it takes longer.

Inside a seed, which sometimes weighs less than a tenth of a gram, there are all the "blueprints" for a mature plant. The seed knows its exact destiny, exactly what it wants to do when it grows up. In addition, the tiny dry seed contains all the resources it needs to get on its way and reach its goal, with no favors from anyone.

In English it is said "AS INSIGNIFICANT AS A TURNIP SEED", meaning, that turnip seeds are very small and insignificant in size and weight. However, relative to other seeds they are not at all tiny. Lettuce seeds, for instance, are much smaller. In addition, the "wonder" of this "insignificant" seed, is that it, like all other seeds, is amazing and not insignificant at all.

Once the environmental conditions match a seed's requirements, even though it is dry and not "alive", it wakes up and starts its way in the world. It digests the nutrients within it and creates everything it requires to grow, exactly the same components our bodies need.

We encourage the beginning of this process by soaking them in water. Inside the seed, a wealth of enzymes emerge, which break down the nutrients found in it. Enzymes catalyze chemical reactions, even within the human body, such as building new cells or removing waste from the body. Our bodies have a limited ability to produce enzymes (aging is the state in which cells die at a faster rate than they are renewed). When we eat enzymes that help us digest, we make it easier on the body and encourage it to produce other enzymes. In addition, enzymes act as anti-inflammatory agents and a shortage of enzymes may harm the body's ability to cope with disease.

In the germination process the amount of vitamins and minerals in the seed increases by tens and hundreds of percent, so that they can be available to the plant. For example, there is 10 mg of vitamin A in 100 grams of mature radish compared to 391 mg in 100 grams of radish sprouts. The amount of calcium in a sprout is double the amount in a mature plant, and the amount of niacin is multiplied by approximately 100!

Our bodies can use this abundance of vitamins and minerals because they are in a state that is available to the plant. Also, this abundance is delivered along with enzymes that help us take apart, digest, and absorb them. Enzymes exist only in raw foods. They are destroyed by cooking or preservation. Therefore, there is no better source for enzymes than live sprouts.

Sprouts contain high quality protein that contains essential amino acids. Our bodies produce amino acids, but not all those that we need. We must receive some of them with the food we eat. While there are no amino acids at all in a cup of dry wheat, a wheat grain contains 18 types of amino acids after it sprouts! The amount of protein in a seed grows dramatically because protein is needed to build plant cells. There are less than 9 g protein in 100 grams of cooked chickpeas but 20 g protein in 100 grams of sprouted chickpeas!

Sprouts contain simple sugars that are available energy (not fattening at all), chlorophyll (purifies the blood and strengthens the immune system), and nutritional fibers.

Another interesting fact for calorie counters - the caloric value of sprouted legumes is approximately one third that of dry legumes. Because they are softer, mejadara made from sprouted lentils cooks faster than mejadara made from dry lentils. In spite of the cooking, the nutritional value of cooked lentils is considerably higher and the caloric value only one third that of cooked dry lentils.

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Last week you received the first broccoli or cabbage, hope you enjoyed it.

Despite the unpredictable weather, this week's delivery is expected to include:

Tomatoes
Cucumbers
Curly red or romaine lettuce
Roquette leaves, young radish leaves, or delicate baby mustard Mizuno
Lemons
Onions
Spinach
White daikon radish or turnip
Sweet potatoes - I estimate they will run out within 3-4 weeks
Beets, with leaves of course

In the big boxes:
Kohlrabi
Mustard
Turnip or daikon
Maybe peppers - there's a slight hiatus, but they will return

In the fruit baskets:
Avocado or banana
Apples
Citrus

Have a good pleasant week; may we be wise enough and able to look not at the pitcher but rather its contents ... although they are not always easy to see.

Yours,
Maggie