Heartistic Desires

Posted By Cori on April 9, 2009

Sunflower Lettuce??

Hmmmm… sounds… intriguing. Since I was shooting (punny?) for a lettuce replacement first and foremost, when I heard I could grow ‘lettuce’ from sunflower seeds, I was most curious and decided that would be my first sprouting experiment. The package on the Sunflower Sprouting Seeds I bought says, “Sunflower Lettuce is a favorite mainstay for all salads,” so I’m even more excited by this. Gather the needed supplies:

Sunflower Sprouting Seeds
Organic Soil
Newspaper

First, as with all sprouting seeds, soak about two tablespoons of seeds over night; drain. And, in case you were wondering, sprouts have amazing health benefits, so it’s worth it to try adding a few to your diet, if you can.

Day 1. There's that darn 'focusing on a black object' issue again.

Spread the soaked seeds in a single layer over the top of about 1-inch of soil in a shallow dish or pie plate. Spritz some water over all so the soil is damp but not soaked.

Day 2. Lay seeds in a single layer as much as possible.

Cover with 8 (why 8? – I don’t know) layers of wet newspaper. (Directions say black and white, but I only had colored; didn’t seem like that could make a big difference, so I went with it.)

Don't tease; it was the only newspaper I had.

Put all of this in a black plastic bag. It’s a basic rule of sprouting that the seeds like things dark at first. Don’t worry – they get light later on. We are not into mistreating our sprouts!

Still day 2. Good night.

Now we just leave them for three days. Except that I took them out once a day to take photos and they seemed a bit dry a time or two so I spritz them with water.

Day 3. Starting to grow!

Day 4. Out of the bag and into the closet.

After three days in darkness, remove the bag and paper and place sprouts in dim light for an additional three days. I didn’t want mine to get cold so instead of the garage, I put them in my laundry womb which is really a closet with no light. Very womb-like.

Day 5.

Finally, move your sprouts to a well-lit area and spritz with water once or twice a day until the hulls fall off and the sprouts have a lush, green appearance. This will take about 7 – 10 days more.

Day 7. Out of the closet!

Day 8. Starting to lift their little heads!

Day 9.

Day 10.

Day 12. Time for a trim!

Day 13. I spritz every morning and night and kept them damp but not too wet.

Day 14. Need a bit of water.

Day 15. Reach for the sky...

To use: cut the sprouts off at the roots, rinse and refrigerate in an airtight container.

Tips and opinions:

Appearance: I was surprised by the look of the final product. Not sure what I expected, but a two-leaf seedling wasn’t quite what I had in mind. I did find that if you leave it longer and more growth begins to show, they get bitter. Definitely cut them off at the two-leaf stage.

Taste: I’m not convinced that these would replace lettuce in anything, but they would be a great addition, as stated, to a salad. There’s not enough volume to replace lettuce. The flavor reminded me of when I was a girl and would pull out the long stalks of grass and chew on them; with a hint of sunflower seed-taste.

This is it. Grubs up!

Overall: Three weeks after starting this batch, I still have sprouts shooting up. Once you get a batch going, you could snip a few each day to add to a salad or, maybe, sandwich, or just to nibble. Definitely rinse them off to avoid a musty dirt flavor. We’ll do these again for the health benefits, but they’re not my lettuce replacement. And they’re not a ‘favorite’. Try some and let me know what you think.

Category: Food, Pursuits
Tags: Food, sprouts