Landless gardeners can grow sprouts in water

Gandhi once said, "To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves," to which I reply, Mahatma, does your philosophy factor in the sprout?

As a born city dweller, I harbored romantic notions of the gardener. He rejoiced in plunging his hands deep into sun-warmed soil, coaxing seeds into beautiful plants, becoming one with the earth. Of course this vision made plant work seem untouchable, scary, backbreaking, to say nothing of requiring a huge commitment.

Then I met the broccoli sprout, which, along with its other sprout cousins, grows from seed to edible snack in about five days, with the help of nothing but some water and a mason jar.

I'd seen a handful of alfalfa sprouts sneak onto a sandwich time and again, but didn't much care for them. My patient tutor, Master Gardener Fred Bové, informed me that there are sprouts beyond the alfalfa, which, thankfully, he also doesn't enjoy. ("They taste like lawn, and bring me back to college dorm sandwiches," he said.)

One day in our office conference room, he introduced me to the broccoli, radish and sunflower sprouts, though you can sprout almost anything, including clover, fenugreek, lentil, mustard and garlic. He explained that sprouts are germinated plant seeds, which, depending on the type of seed, may or may not be delicious to eat.

"Think of the seed as a little thumb drive for the plant," he told me. If you plant, say, a radish seed in the ground and water it and expose it to sunlight, it will become a radish plant. If, however, you put it in water without earth, the shell will soften, split and then germinate. After a few days, the sprout will grow a few inches and be ready for eating. Insta-plant!

On the conference room table sat a couple of mason jars, a pitcher of water, a small roll of sticky mesh - the kind you put in your silverware drawer - and a few packets of seeds. He walked me through the sprouting process. We added seeds to the jar, covered them with water and soaked them overnight. The next day, they were drained and rinsed and the jar covered and set upside down propped at an angle, to allow further draining. Rinse and drain every day until the seeds sprout in around five days (see "Growing Sprouts").

A 50-gram pack of sprouting seed costs about $4, and will yield 10 to 12 quarts of sprouts. Four ounces of sprouts retail for about $2 at a store, so making sprouts at home is a great investment. Toss them in salads or sandwiches, mix into risotto or add a handful to stir-fries for added nutrition and crunch.

Note: Some seed packets recommend adding bleach to the soaking liquid before starting the sprouting process to ward against E. coli. Fred said there was only a "slim possibility" of any bacteria forming, but feel free to do so as a precaution. If you want to sprout larger seeds, like beans or peas, you can also use a sprouting bag, made of hemp, in place of a jar.

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This article appeared on page K - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle