February 16, 2009

Eat Your Broccoli Sprouts: Cut your cancer risk!

Nourishing Traditions has much info on the benefits of sprouts on pages 112-118. Surprisingly she does not mention broccoli sprouts. This must have been written before scientists discovered their amazing cancer preventive properties!
From Johns Hopkins scientists:
"Three-day-old broccoli sprouts consistently contain 20 to 50 times the amount of chemoprotective compounds found in mature broccoli heads, and may offer a simple, dietary means of chemically reducing cancer risk," says Paul Talalay, M.D., J.J. Abel Distinguished Service Professor of Pharmacology"........." people would still have to eat unreasonably large quantities of broccoli to get any significant promotion of Phase 2 enzymes," Talalay says.
Clinical studies are currently under way to see if eating a few tablespoons of the sprouts daily can supply the same degree of chemoprotection as one to two pounds of broccoli eaten weekly. The sprouts look and taste something like alfalfa sprouts, according to Talalay Read full article Here!

To me the sprouts taste like a cross between broccoli and radishes. You can eat them in a sandwich, throw them in soup, put them on pizza, or to get your kids to eat them...grind them up and hide them in things!!!

Step One: Pour 1/4 cup of broccoli seeds in a mason jar. I get the seeds from The Granery.





Step 2: pour filtered water in and soak your seeds overnight.








Step 3: Drain the water and put a breathable cover over it. I got this nifty cover with holes in the top from The Granery that screws over a mason jar. If you don't have that you could just put a paper towel with a rubber band. Place in a dark cabinet for 2-3 days. I like to try to roll the seeds up on the sides so they won't be stuck together. You want to have the air circulating around them. You have to take it out of the cabinet and rinse the seeds with water 2-3 times per day. This keeps mold from forming. I noticed on the seed jar it mentioned adding vit C powder to the rinsing water to help with this... but I have never done that and they are fine. It can be tricky to rinse these if you don't have a screw on cover. I have lost many seeds in the sink before I got this. Try whatever method works best for you.





See the cute little sprouts coming out after 2 days? Don't forget to keep rinsing!








Step 4:
On about the 4th day take the sprouts and place in indirect sunlight to help them turn green and produce chlorophyll. I like to turn my periodically during the day to make sure all the sprouts get some light.
(I actually think I should have left these in the cabinet a bit longer to get more sprouts) Sometimes if they clump together they don't sprout as well.
Step 5: Eat them now or put a lid on and store in the refrigerator. Yum! Yum!
I hate to say it but I am not a big veggie fan, unlike my husband who could eat them all day long! So when I do eat them, I want to get the most bang from my buck nutrition wise. And with broccoli sprouts you can't go wrong there!