Growing Alfalfa Sprouts at Home - So simple!

Several weeks ago I was at my local Safeway in the produce section. During the pandemic/quarantine I have been eating a lot green salad. I think this is largely in part to how simple a salad is to make as well as the benefits of eating a lot vegetables. And plus when you buy the large bags of spinach and lettuce from Costco you have to do something with it before it goes bad. Anyway, I found myself in the sprout section. I was shocked to see how expensive a small container of alfalfa sprouts was. It must have been nearly $4 for an ounce or two. Crazy! When I got home later, I recalled that I had seen videos on YouTube about growing sprouts. I did a bit of research and decided to buy a bag of alfalfa sprouting seeds (make sure they are for sprouting and not for planting as there is the possibility of chemicals in the latter) on Amazon. It was a 12 ounce bag for $9.99. There are much larger bags of seeds at a better price but I was starting out so I didn't want to go too crazy. Aside from the seeds, all you really need is a glass jar or container and some sort of covering for it that allows airflow. I had a large, wide-mouth mason jar and an old tea strainer that fit on top pretty well so I was set once I received my seeds in the mail. 

While waiting I did some more research (aka watching more YouTube videos) on sprouting seeds and how to avoid any sort of foodborne illness. Sprouts sometimes have a bad reputation for causing food poisoning. From my online research, most foodborne illnesses related to sprouts are caused by bad seeds. It was recommended that once you find a reputable supplier of seeds to stick with that supplier. Additionally, you want to make sure your container is clean and disinfected. In the process you can also use your nose to detect if there might be some sort of fungal or bacterial infection of your sprouts. Basically, your sprouts will smell terrible or rotting. Throw them away if that is ever the case. Another thing many sprouters pointed out was that people often mistake the fuzz of the roots as mold. Once again use your nose to discern the two. For alfalfa seeds, I don't believe this is much of an issue as the root is pretty small. This is probably more visible with something like broccoli sprouts. Just speculating here. I haven't grown broccoli sprouts but that may be next!

Okay, so the seeds arrived from Amazon in a few days (thanks Prime shipping). I took my mason jar and washed it with warm soap and water. I then took some white vinegar to disinfect the inside of the jar. I know this may not be as effective as other methods but I didn't really want to boil the jar or use a harsh chemical disinfectant. After pouring out the vinegar I rinsed the jar out really well with some hot water. My mason jar is 32 ounces so I used 2 tablespoons of alfalfa seeds. The first step is to let the seeds soak for at least four hours if not overnight. I'm sure this helps to soften the husk of the seed. 

Soaking the alfalfa seeds overnight

I let the seeds soak overnight from about 9pm until 8am. So they got almost a good 12 hours of soaking time. It's interesting to see the husks of the seeds give off a lot of brown color. The water has a brown tinge when you pour it out. You can see this in the image above with the sort of brown cloud floating above the seeds. 

Close up of the alfalfa seeds the day after soaking

Above is an image of the seeds after draining the water. It was amazing to see that the seeds were already sprouting little roots after soaking just overnight. These seeds are clearly fast growers. But here on out you do not keep the seeds submerged in any water. In fact you want to drain as much water from the jar as possible. You of course need to make sure the seeds remain moist still. It's recommended to rinse and drain the seeds twice a day. I did this in the morning around 8am and then again at night around 9pm. 

Alfalfa sprouts Day 3

So here we find ourselves on day 3 of growing the alfalfa sprouts. Amazing! Due to the root growth the space taken up by the seeds has increased nearly 3 or 4 times. Check out all of the white roots. Once again the seeds were rinsed twice on day 3 in the morning and the evening. 

Alfalfa sprouts Day 4

I continued to be amazed on day 4 by the sheer amount of growth. Check out how full the jar now has become. Some of the husks are starting to fall off of the sprouts and you can now seed the green of the cotyledon. I rinse the seeds twice again morning and evening. There is substantial growth between the morning and evening as well. Tomorrow the sprouts will likely be ready to enjoy!

Alfalfa sprouts Day 5 - day in the "sun"

Day 5, the day I've been waiting for. Instead of rinsing the seeds this morning, I just gave them generous spritzes of water with a spray bottle. The last step before eating involves letting the sprouts get some sunlight. This helps the sprouts develop some rich green color. Otherwise they'll just be a pale neon green color. Sunlight is not great in my apartment so instead I placed it under my grow light. This appeared to work great. The sprouts developed some richer green color. 

Alfalfa sprouts ready to eat!

Here are the sprouts after cleaning. They're ready to eat! This is just a portion of the sprouts in case you're wondering why it doesn't look like very much. I attempted to remove as much of the loose seed husks as possible. To do this, I placed the sprouts in a bowl of water. Swishing them around helps to remove the husk. After that you just scoop the sprouts out and drain in a strainer or colander to remove the excess water. After that they're ready to eat! So how did I enjoy them? Many ways including in a sandwich, in a salad, and on top of my sunny side up eggs. 

Alfalfa sprouts - part of a balanced breakfast

I'll close this post with a shot of my breakfast as well as some thoughts about growing my own sprouts. Overall, it is very easy. It is more economical than purchasing sprouts at most grocery stores. It is also a fun activity and is amazing to watch how fast these plants (sprouts) grow and become ready to consume. Alfalfa sprouts are known to be very nutritious too (as a bonus!). The equipment needed to grow sprouts is fairly inexpensive too. In my case an old mason jar and an old tea strainer. With a little patience, in my case that was five days, you can home grown sprouts. I get a small sense of satisfaction knowing that I grew this food myself. Also, alfalfa sprouts taste great! So if you've considered trying to grow sprouts yourself, what are you waiting for?