Sprouting 101

Every time I think I’ve learned “all I need to know” about storing, cooking and enjoying food, I manage to prove myself wrong. Case in point: Sprouting – particularly grains and beans. We lean towards the “veggie” perspective (pretty strictly, for quite a number of years). However, as we’ve simultaneously gotten a little older and dramatically reduced our intake of legumes, our ability to digest them has decreased. So I’ve been scouting around for ways to make it easier for us to handle them. We tried the digestive enzyme sold specifically for this purpose, which helped some, but didn’t cure the problem. I also tried soaking the beans (refrigerated) for several days, changing the water twice a day. Perhaps it would have worked better if they had been kept at room temperature (which is what the instructions generally recommend), but I just wasn’t comfortable with that idea. Then I discovered sprouting. (Rediscovered, more accurately.) And have been pleasantly surprised by a number of things. First, food that is sprouted expands quite a bit, and so will go a lot further – literally stretching one’s food dollar! Second, beans that have been sprouted really are far easier to digest. Sprouted beans (or grains) store nicely in the fridge for days, needing only an occasional rinse to keep them fresh, so there’s very little waste. (Proponents say the nutrients in sprouted foods become much more bio-available, but the research I’ve read has been conflicting on that point.) An unexpected bonus: Because they are sprouted ahead of time, and because so little results in so much food, it’s easy to keep them on hand, ready to cook at a moment’s notice. So if I haven’t taken anything out of the freezer to thaw, I can still put dinner on the table in a flash! The only disadvantage, if there is one, is that sprouted beans tend to stay a little on the crunchy side unless cooked really thoroughly – but even slightly crunchy sprouted beans are remarkably easy to digest! Our sprouting experiment started with wheat, and expanded into garbanzos, cranberry beans (which look like overgrown pintos), lentils and pink beans. (The only beans that haven’t worked all that well, so far, are pintos and black beans.) The wheat has been fun – after sprouting, I ground some to add to the dough for sourdough tortillas, which gave them a nice flavor – took the edge off the sourdough. I also dried some, which I later ground into flour. I’d read that flour ground from sprouted grains can be used in pretty much the same way as traditional flour, and so tossed it into the bread machine with the rest of the ingredients for my favorite bread recipe. Wasn’t sure how it would really work – sprouting, I reasoned, must change the gluten in some way, but it actually made a very nice loaf of bread. A little gummy, perhaps, but the flavor was nice nonetheless. I’ve also taken the wheat sprouts, just as they are, as a snack for work. And the beans have been fun. It’s been great to enjoy these protein-packed foods again, without any of us suffering digestive distress. And legumes of all stripes are a huge boon in a food storage plan -- high quality protein, shelf stable, can be stored for years, and each pound in storage is worth at least three pounds on the table! Most sprouted beans need to be cooked, and can be used in pretty much any recipe calling for dried beans. One concern I had was convincing my family to try them. I used a three-prong approach: educate them about the benefits of sprouted foods; use them in foods they already enjoy; and offer something else as a backup, just in case. I knew I’d probably face a mutiny if I simply announced one evening that we’d be enjoying pan-fried lentil sprouts with our brown rice and salad. Fortunately, there was some leftover pizza in the fridge. So I cooked the lentils briefly with some garlic, seasoned them with a little soy sauce, and politely asked everyone to have a bite "to taste it". To my surprise and delight, they actually wanted a serving along with their pizza. Cool!! Sprouting most grains and beans is about the easiest kind of “cooking” there is: Put the grains or beans into a jar or other container (they need plenty of room to expand – no more than a cup of beans in a quart jar, and 2/3 or so is better), rinse, then fill the jar with cool water. Cover the jar with cheesecloth or a clean dishcloth, or, if it’s a canning jar, one of those plastic mesh lids with holes especially designed for this purpose (you could also use plastic window screen material, or any other rust-proof material that lets the jar drain). Leave at room temperature for 8 – 12 hours (or a little longer), then drain. Rinse and drain a couple of times a day, until little tails appear. (This usually only takes a day or two.) How long the tails should be allowed to get depends on the intended use. Sprouted beans can be used in virtually any recipe that calls for dried beans. I’ve even used sprouted white beans, which I accidentally cooked until they disintegrated, as the base for a pasta sauce. Here’s how I made the sprouted lentil dish: Pan-fried Lentil Sprouts Butter Small handful slivered garlic (I used some from a batch of lacto-fermented pickles) 2 cups sprouted lentils, tails 3/8” or so Soy Sauce Heat the butter in a frying pan and add the garlic. Saute, stirring frequently, for a few minutes. It’s ok if they end up lightly browned. Add the lentils and cover. Cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 – 15 minutes (add a little water if necessary). Add soy sauce to taste. Enjoy. Read more!

Back in the (Canning) Saddle!

Canning again!! What with one thing and another (buying and renovating a house, moving, a week-long stay in the hospital -- all in a matter of about 6 months!), I haven't done much canning -- or writing, for that matter. But I'm back in the saddle, with a couple of cases of cubed pork (pressure canned, of course), and strawberry jam under my belt. It's really nice to be back in the canning biz!! Took a good, hard look at our food storage today, and set a goal to can a case of meat, plus whatever fruit happens to be in season, each week, for the next while. (This will work great, so long as I can find something we use on sale -- this week, it's pork sirloin (aka tri-tip), which I picked up for $1.19 a pound. Guess the $.99 days are gone for good. Sigh.) So far, I'm ahead -- the third batch of cubed pork is in process now. Unfortunately, only 6 of the last 10 sealed. I think that's because I started with the heat too high, and ended up turning it down too quickly. So this batch I'll start a little lower. Contrary to popular advice, I also have a lot of trouble getting things to seal if I turn the heat down periodically during the whole processing time. So I'll adjust it a few times, then let it go. I've done some raw packing, which is wonderfully convenient, but the results always taste like tuna to us. Ham and corned beef, on the other hand, do not. So, operating on the theory that pre-cooking the meat will take the edge off that flavor, I elected to cook the pork before canning it. The first batch became pork "burger" -- through the grinder, then browned and canned in stock. That proved to be a lot of work, so I just cubed the next batch, browned it and simmered it until the pieces had shrunk and felt a little tough against the spoon. I cut the third batch into smaller cubes, browned it and simmered it with some garlic. I've gotten into pickling foods the old fashioned way -- in a salt brine --, and so used some of the garlic from a recent batch. Pork has such an affinity for garlic! The stock tasted great; hope the pork will too, when it comes out of the canner. Any of these options will provide a quick & easy way to get dinner on the table, as well as building up our food storage. Nothing lasts forever -- not even homemade jam. So the bottles from 2008, and maybe even 2009, aren't long for this world. Now that I've learned how we tend to use them, I can plan more effectively -- which means we shouldn't end up with jars and jars of brown apricot jam a few years from now... So this is shaping up to be a busy summer, but hopefully a productive one. Read more!

Canning Meatballs - Not Sure I'd Bother Again

Canned meatballs after work tonight. All I did was use my favorite meatloaf recipe, which is a pound of ground meat, a couple of tablespoons or so of dried onions, a teaspoon of dried mustard. I usually put in a handful of rolled oats and an egg or two as well, but thought it would be better to leave them out for canning. I also normally top it with ketchup, but I left if off of the ones I planned to can.

As I write this, the canner is chattering away. Only managed to get three quarts done, but that's three more than we had before! There were a half-dozen left over, which made a nice dinner for us. I started with about 12 pounds of pork cushion steak (tri-tip), which I put through the grinder last night. I'm a little surprised -- usually when I pressure can things after work, I'm up until midnight, at least. But it's only 9:20, with only 20 minutes left before the canner can be turned off. Then twenty minutes for the pressure to come down, two after the weight comes off, and ten more before the jars can be taken out. So I'll be finished with this adventure before 10:30! Cool!!

I decided to pressure cook the meatballs before I packed them in the jars. Some recipes call for them to be raw-packed, but most suggest browning them first. Although I do raw-pack some things (cubed chicken breasts or thighs, cubed pork, cubed ham), I'm a little uncomfortable with the idea of raw packing meatballs. So I layered them in the pressure cookers (luckily I have several, with baskets, trays, etc. to fit in each), brought them up to pressure, and cooked them for about 6 minutes. Then hot-packed them into quart jars, wiped the rims, put the on the lids & rings, and put them into the canner. I sure hope all three jars seal -- I've had such an awful time getting things I've pressure canned to seal lately. Except for the corned beef. I canned some over the weekend, and all 7 jars sealed! Hurray! Maybe that's because it must be hot-packed -- I'm not sure. But in any case, I'm really glad they all sealed!!

It's a good thing we had the leftover ones for dinner -- the texture was a little coarse, so I realized that it would be a good idea to run the meat through the grinder again. I have another batch to can tomorrow night, so I'll go ahead & re-grind it tonight. Although, this might not be necessary -- I know that canning changes the texture of ground meat. For example, I canned some sloppy joe filling awhile back. Before it was canned, it had the texture of regular old ground beef (even though it was made with pork -- we're not big beef eaters). However, the canning process seemed to make it very fine. I presume meatballs would be the same way. Still, I'd rather take the time to prep it as well as possible.

Update: Wahoo -- all three jars sealed! I'm convinced that hot-packing made the difference. I also re-ground the meat, and I can tell just by looking at it that it was a good thing to do.

Update #2: We sampled the meatballs the next day, and decided we don't need to add any more to our food storage. Raw-packed canned meat acquires a flavor for which we don't care, and I'd hoped to avoid that by pre-cooking the meatballs. No such luck. So I think I'll stick to canning cured meats (ham, corned beef), because their flavor doesn't seem to change after canning.
Read more!