Re: more on sprouts?

[Guest guest]

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> i love the way u speak of food. u make it sound so delicious and

sensuous. u would make a great secret unknown eater going around to

restaurants, eating the food, then writing a column about it for a

newspaper.

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i used to go to restaurants a lot, being curious to try as many

cuisines as possible and such, but nowadays i feel like i've tried

most of the options and nothing in restaurants is really satisfactory

in terms of quality, so i almost never go anymore. one of the only

rare exceptions is Korean restaurants, especially the ones in

Manhattan, because i think that's the healthiest food you can eat

from a restaurant. i've gotten pretty rigid about only eating things

i've prepared myself.

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> can u tell me what phytoestrogens are and how they affect the

body?

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i'm not an expert, but they are analogues to the hormones that exist

in our bodies, and can have an effect on this system, possibly

positive or negative depending on sex, age, etc. it's one of the

things that makes soy so controversial, so looking at the Soy Alert!

articles on the WAPF site would probably be a good place to learn

more about it, and i'm sure there's lot of info on the web.

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also, i bought some organic radish seeds and it appears that they do

not all sprout. is this common? i eat lentil, mung beans, alfalfa,

almond. can u tell me more interesting sprouts to add? also what

legumes do u sprout? since i am not fond of many veggies, except for

salad, i need to try to get some sprouts (that i love) in.

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i can't recall ever having a problem with radish sprouts; i guess a

certain percentage of any kind of seed will fail to sprout, but i

don't pay much attention. as long as a decent percentage of them do

succeed then you're in business. here are the legumes i sprout:

brown lentil, black lentil, moth bean, mung bean, fenugreek, peanut,

alfalfa, clover. here are the other seeds i sprout: almond, sesame,

broccoli, cabbage, radish, mustard. i also toss in some arugula

sometimes (only tiny amounts will work with the regular sprouting

method), and sometimes i make a batch of chive (called " garlic " )

sprouts, but they take a few weeks and are too expensive.

the site that has been most helpful to me for sprouting, and good

source of seeds, is <.com>. the Easy Sprout devices

they sell are wonderful; i've been using them everyday for over a

year and a half.

some other seeds i've sprouted are sunflower (amazing flavor for a

day or so, then they get really bitter--i add these in once in a

while and i make them for sharing with other people), pumpkin (i've

had very little success with these, dill (for some reason i can't

find consistent success with this, but i want to add it to my daily

mix), nigella (the most horrid thing i've ever eaten in my life, but

i still use the seed as a spice all the time).

also, green peas, black chickpeas, and white chickpeas all sprout

very nicely, but should be cooked from what i understand. great for

soups. same goes for grains, but some of them are a little ornery

when it comes to sprouting.

note that a lot of these sprouts are used in small quantities for

flavoring, but i like this idea of getting the phytonutrient goodies

from a wide variety of foods in small quantities. i think my sprout

mix is a major contributor of nutrients to my diet. it's strange to

hear that you don't care for a lot of veggies, and sprouts are like

veggies themselves (halfway between seeds and veggies i guess). i

can't imagine someone who likes sprouted lentils but doesn't like

most veggies! maybe you can eat more veggies by putting them in

soups, where their flavor and texture blends in with other things and

they get softer. also, mixing the almonds and peanuts in with

salads makes everything a hundred times more delicious, and coconut

has a similar effect. i like bitter foods in general, so i can't

relate too well.

mike parker