Bean Sprouts Nutrition

Bean sprouts nutrition

1/2 cup bean sprouts (cooked; mung) contain:
 
14 cal;
1.6 gm protein (incomplete);
2.6 gm carbohydrate;
78 mg potassium;
10 units A;
.045 mg B-1;
.5 mg B-2;
.35 mg niacin;
3 mg C.

Although mung bean sprouts (the kind most often included in Chinese food) are perhaps the most commonly known, sprouts can be grown from other kinds of beans, such as soybeans, peas, lentils, lima beans, and chick peas, as well as from dry, unhulled seeds such as alfalfa, wheat, rye, oats, corn, barley, millet, sunflower, sesame, radish, parsley, and clover! All sprouts are extremely low in calories and carbohydrates, making them especially good for those on reducing diets. The real nutritional secret of sprouts is that when the beans or seeds are sprouted there is an increase in the vitamin and mineral contents, in some cases up to ten times the amount of vitamins and two to three times the amount of other nutrients contained in the original seed. The contents of vitamins A, B-complex, C, E, and K often increase spectacularly giving you much more nutritional value for your money (a rare enough occurrence these days).

Mung bean sprouts are available canned, but sprouts of these beans and of the other beans and seeds mentioned above have a much better flavor, are generally more nutritious and more readily available, and cost much less if they are grown at home. And as a bonus home sprouting iv an easy process: most beans and seeds can be sprouted by placing them in a wide mouth jar covered with cheesecloth sealed by a rubberband, and soaking them overnight in lukewarm water. The seeds are then drained, rinsed with lukewarm water, and drained again. (After the initial soaking, the sprouts should not be kept sitting in any water.) They should be rinsed and drained and gently shaken apart (or you’ll have to serve them in a giant lump the shape of the jar) about twice a day until they are well sprouted and ready to eat. Most kinds are good served raw in salads or in place of lettuce on sandwiches; if cooked, they should be cooked until just heated through (soybean sprouts may take a bit longer); when overcooked, they become dry and tasteless and lose many nutrients. As for telling when they’re sprouted enough to eat, you may have to experiment some, but mung bean sprouts should generally be from 11/2 to 3 inches long, alfalfa are ready when the green leaves develop, and wheat and sunflower sprouts should be only about as long as the seeds.