More and more people in Poland are interested in healthy eating, therefore no wonder, that and sprouts are gradually becoming more and more popular. This chapter attempts to answer the question: why sprouts are such an unusual treasure in the kitchen, and - what is very important - basic methods of seed germination and cultivation of seedlings for everyday use as well as examples of culinary use of sprouts are given. The author learned about the germination methods mainly thanks to the publications of Ann Wigmore. Forty years ago she founded the Hippocrates Institute in Boston, which continues today. This institute significantly contributed to the popularization of sprouts and other foods full of life („living food”) in America and in many European countries.
Why is it worth eating sprouts?
The seed itself is already a great storehouse of a variety of nutrients; a perfectly designed organ, in which a tiny plant called an embryo, nature provides, just like a mother to a child, all the best, what is necessary for her to survive, before she becomes independent and can take care of her own existence. Simultaneously, to meet the requirements of small square meters (however, most of the seeds are small) these various treasures must be packed as tightly and as efficiently as possible. This means in practice, that all the necessary nutrients are stored in the seed in the form of large protein molecules, sugars and fats - huge packages containing hundreds of "food rations", unpacked only then, when the need arises. Moreover, to ensure a decent rest until the time, when favorable conditions "awake" a dormant plant, the seed contains very little water (5—10% of the total weight).
In conclusion - almost everything is already in the seed, only in a hardly digestible form (if only that is why, that the process of "unpacking packages" has not yet taken place, so our digestive tract has to deal with it on its own). So no wonder, that all grain eaters (what our ancestors were supposed to be) they must chew their food properly, before it travels to other parts of the digestive system.