F A Q 's
SPROUTMAN'S WHEATGRASS GROWER. HOW MUCH SEED FOR GROWING WHEATGRASS?
In my 10x16 inch tray, I use 1/2 lb of seed, which is approximately a little over 1 cup. This in turn yields about 12-16 ounces of juice. The actual yield varies depending on blade height, seed quality, and your gardening skills. Those last two items are crucial, so please take care. The growing chapter in my book WHEATGRASS NATURE'S FINEST MEDICINE http://sproutman.com/wheatgrass.html is brimming with solid hands-on growing help, short cuts, headache solvers, and tips from the world's most successful growers.
http://sproutman.com/wheatgrass-grower.html
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FREEZE DRIED WHEATGRASS VS FRESH?
Freeze dried wheatgrass is made from the same grass as fresh, but it is more concentrated so it is nutritionally superior to its liquid self. But the fresh form of the juice is more bioactive so that makes it more therapeutic. Thus, one is a better vitamin and mineral supplement and the other is more appropriate if you are trying to restore your health from disease. That being said, there is some overlap. Both versions of the product will serve both roles to a certain extent. But now you know the strengths of each.
SPROUT BAG VS. AUTOMATIC SPROUTER
Dear Sproutman: Why do I need to buy a sprout bag? Can't I just use a jar? I'm afraid your fabric sprouter will get moldy. Au Contrair my dear sproutlette, the jars often mold and the hemp is mold resistant! Jars have given sprouting a bad reputation. If you think about it, they were never meant to be used as a gardening tool. Plants need to breathe and jars have very limited air circulation. And they don't have adequate drainage. It's the incomplete drainage, stagnant air & excess water that promotes mold growth in jars. But you are right to be concerned about fabric molding. Many folks attache a cheesecloth with a rubber band to the mouth of the jar and it definitely breeds bacteria.
Jars are of course difficult to transport, are prone to breakage and accidents ruin your whole crop. They take up valuable kitchen space. And they're time consuming---4 steps; you fill up, pour out, tilt at an angle, and then drain. Avid sprouters have more than one variety growing at a time. But it's cumbersome to handle multiple jars and difficult to get hands in and out. Jars take up precious refrigerator and shelf space. Large jars take up gobs of room even though you may have only a few sprouts in them.
Sprout Bags on the other hand....Are Designed for sprouting. All sprouts get air. Good circulation prevents mold. 100% drainage without tilting or waiting. Water never collects. Saves time. Very convenient. Only 2 steps. Dip in water, hang on hook or knob. Or lay in dish rack or bowl. Lightweight, unbreakable. Great for traveling, camping, boating. Hemp fabric won't shrink or mold. Wide opening for easy handling. Holds equivalent to 3/4 gallon jar. Saves counter space. Saves refrigerator space. Bags expand and contract per volume. Sprout bags will sprout all varieties but are especially good for growing all grains, beans, and even gelatinous seeds.
CERTIFIED ORGANIC HEMP AND SPROUT BAGS
The sprout bags are all natural, but getting an organic certificate is another story. Why? Because the hemp is grown in Romania. Life in Romania is like a time warp. It's like America in 1950. But that's only part of the story.
As you know, Amerca outlawed hemp in the 1930s. The lost jobs and industry that this amazing plant could have provided American workers is nothing less than a tragedy. Don't get me started---that's another story. Our neighbor Canada grows hemp, and we import the oil and seeds from them. But Canada is not capable of making fabric. The fact is only two countries in the world can make hemp fabric---China and Romania. It has to do with the types of factories and equipment required for converting the plant fibers into thread. Anyway, none of the fabric operations in these two countries are certified organic. Sure, I've got a certificate for the agricultural process that certifies that the hemp was grown without chemicals. That's the easy part. But the factory process is another story.
The fact is, no chemicals are used in the factory processing of the hemp sprout bags, either. Mostly, because it is a very crude product. The fabric strand and openess of the weave are unique. I designed them for sprouting and they are made just for me. They are unlike other hemp products such as clothing, wallets, and accessories. I can personally confirm that the work is all done by hand and machine. No chemicals are used, mostly because they are simply not needed. This crudeness has a downside. It's super slow. They literally make the thread for me and only when I ask. It is a painstakingly slow process for me!
I am disappointed because for all practical purposes, the bags provide the qualities we are looking for when we shop for organic. But the Romanians do not recognize the marketing need for organic certification. And they simply are not capable nor willing to invest the many thousands of dollars that would be required to convert their factory into one that complies with organic standards. In the words of one of my colleagues: "It won't happen in our lifetime."
As an aside, 100 years ago, America had the largest hemp industry in the world. And had it not been snuffed out by the bureaucrats, we would have certified hemp today just like we produce certified organic cotton products in this country. (In case you are wondering, cotton is unsuitable for sprouting.)
WHEATGRASS -
SOIL vs. NON-SOIL
Although wheatgrass is normally
grown in open fields and during the 1960s was grown indoors using
1-2 inches of soil, grass can grow without soil. During the
1980's, one of the largest wheatgrass clinics in the world, grew
their wheatgrass exclusively without soil. The Freshlife Automatic
Sprouter allows the addition of additives to the water such as
liquid seaweed fertilizer. A comparison between soil grown and
soil-free wheatgrass can be found in
Wheatgrass Nature's Finest Medicine.
WHEATGRASS
vs. WHEAT
Wheatgrass is a green vegetable.
Wheat is a grain. The grain has gluten, the grass does not. Green
vegetables do not contain gluten. Although grass was germinated
from grain, it undergoes a complete transformation into a
vegetable.
WHICH SEED IN
WHICH SPROUTER?
The sprout bag and the Freshlife
Sprouters can both grow any seed. But some seeds prefer light.
These are the ones to grow in the
Freshlife Automatic Sprouter. They include buckwheat,
radish, cabbage, broccoli, chives, alfalfa, clover, pea shoots,
sunflower. These sprouts all develop green leaves. The sprout bag
is ideal for growing bean sprouts which do not develop greens,
such as garbanzo, lentils, all grain sprouts, pea sprouts.
ORGANIC
SEEDS
Being organically grown does not
make seeds automatically good for sprouting. While we spend quite
a bit of time sourcing organic seeds, we still test every batch to
find the varieties that are the best sprouters. Organic
certification only indicates the growing methods used by the
farmer. It does not indicate a seed's germination, rate of growth,
size, taste, color, or sproutability. We test for these attributes
which are important to the sprout consumer.
BASKETS
I first invented the basket
sprouter in 1977, but over these 20+ years, the weaving of the
bamboo baskets in China has had many problems. Since they are made
by hand, there were numerous "quality control" issues that forced
us to discard 3-4 out of every 10 baskets. This was mostly because
the spaces between the weaves were too open and the seeds would
run right through them, losing thousands of good sprouting seeds.
Many baskets would also unravel after a few uses and the use of
fumigants such as ethylene gas became too difficult for us to
circumvent. After many years of frustration, it became
economically unfeasible for us to continue providing these
baskets.
You can shop for baskets yourself
at any Asian food and Oriental supply store. Look for unshellacked
bamboo with a bread basket style weave. -Sproutman
SALMONELLA and E-COLI
All our seeds have been diligently
spot tested for Salmonella and E-coli with special equipment Every
sack of seed has a 25 gram sample drawn and tested. While this is
not a fool-proof guarantee, it has a 99% potential to catch
contaminated seed. Since the salmonella scares of the late 1990's,
all the different players in the seed industry have set in place
safeguards and sprouts today are arguably the safest fresh food in
the marketplace. Keep in mind, there are 8 million cases of food
borne poisoning in the USA each year. In the sprout industry,
there have been 1639 cases----not in one year, but over the entire
40 year history of the commercial sprout industry. In addition, it
may be of some comfort to know that there has never been a case of
salmonella from home-grown sprouts.
HOME DECONTAMINATION OF
SEED
Decontamination of seed is an
optional procedure, but in the
Freshlife Automatic Sprouter, it is too easy to pass up.
Just add a few drops of grapefruit seed extract to the reservoir.
USES DIRTY
RECYCLED WATER?
Does your
Freshlife Automatic Sprouter use
dirty, recycled water?
No, but it is true that this was also my first concern. In theory,
it would seem to be true, but in practice, it is a non-issue.
Here's why. We change the water once per day in this machine which
keeps it plenty clean, plus the machine is constantly aerating the
water which how reservoirs and ozonators naturally clean water. In
the Freshlife, dirty water is very visible, so it is an instant
reminder signalling you to change it. If this were the case,
Freshlife users would see mold, mildew and we'd get lots of
returns. But this is definitely not the case. In fact, the
Freshlife has become the #1 selling sprouter in the world (now in
16 countries). That success could not be accomplished with a
machine producing dirty, moldy water.
SPROUTING QUINOA
I like Quinoa as a grain. It is a
great nutritional seed. But I do not promote it as a sprout for
three reasons: 1) It is hard to acquire the right form of the
unhulled seed. Health food stores don't sell it. 2) If you are
willing to invest the time to track down the right seed, often the
germination is too low for successful sprouts. That leads to
potential mold and rot problems, which I consider unsafe in the
raw state. 3) Lastly, the sprout from 3 day old Qunioa is a
relatively insignificant shoot. Not a lot of food or flavor. If
you do grow it for 7 days it turns into a red grass which too
chewy to eat. This grain is ready to eat with only very light
cooking. I feel that this is the most practical way to include the
benefits of quinoa in your diet.
SPROUTING FLAXSEED
Flaxseed sprouts are very high in
oxalic acid (which binds calcium) and because of that, they have
an extremely bitter taste. If that wasn't discouragement enough,
they are also gelatinous, which makes them hard to manage for most
home sprouters. Also, one of the main benefits of flax, its soft
fiber, which is great for soothing and cleansing the intestinal
wall, disappears during germination. Flax is a wonderful seed with
many health benefits and I offer many recipes for it in my book
Power Juices Super Drinks and
Juice Fasting and Detoxification.
But for reasons above, I don't recommend sprouting flax.
HOW TO
TEST YOUR SPROUTING SEED
Unfortunately, "organically grown"
only defines a method of agriculture. It does not guarantee good
sprouts. For that, you need to test your seed. There is no
shortcut around this. The best sprouting seeds out there can be
bought by companies who are in the sprouting business. They
(hopefully) are using the seed they sell. That is usually
insurance that you are buying good seed. To test seed
yourself.....
1) Sprout the seed in a sprout bag
for 3 days.
2) After 3 days, spread the seeds
out on a towel and look at how many have sprouted.
3) If virtually all seeds have
visible shoots and roots, then the seed is good. If many seeds do
not, then this is a bad crop of seed that will generate mold upon
sprouting.
It is also possible that this was
once a good crop of seeds that was improperly stored or is just
too old.
WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN OUR SEEDS AND HEALTH FOOD STORE
SEEDS?
They're both organic, right? Organic is
something I am totally dedicated to and always have been. But
organic only defines a method of agriculture. Organic oats or
organic barley found in the health food stores, for example, are
totally useless for sprouting. For the most part, health food
stores provide grains and beans for cooking, not for sprouting.
After all, it is not a gardening store.
What about when a health food store
sells alfalfa or mung? True, they sell these seeds for
customers who want to sprout them. But these are just commodities
to the large distributors who sell thousands of items to health
food and natural grocery stores nationwide. They don't bother to
test-sprout the seeds, or check their germination, or run tests
for salmonella or e-coli contamination. I know; I've tried to sell
to these distributors. Price is their overall purchasing criteria.
On the other hand, a sprouting company must
use its seed. It must grow them and sell the grown sprouts to its
customers. If those grown sprouts don't look good, taste good, and
perform trouble-free during the sprouting process, then a
professional sprouter cannot afford to use them. You can probably
understand, that all alfalfa seeds are not equal. Some grow taller
and faster. Some create mold, others don't. Some have 96%
germination, some have 86% germination. Some taste bitter, some
sweet. Some are prone to root rot, others are resistant. And some
may be contaminated with rodent droppings from the fields! If you
are a professional sprouter, you are keen to check for all these
conditions.
But that's not all, even if the large
distributors happen to get lucky and buy great seed by accident,
that seed often lives in bulk bins at health foods stores for
months. During that time it is absorbing moisture from the air,
and is being exposed to light, heat, and oxidation. Germination is
depreciated by all these elements. Good sprouting seed must be
protected by sealed packaging for best results. Buy your sprouting
seed from a sprouting seed company. It may cost more but you will
have a delightful, headache-free experience and your diet will be
enriched by some of the worlds finest, living foods.
HOW DO I STORE MY
NEW SPROUTING SEEDS?
Seeds need to be kept cool and dry. Steady
temperature control is better than large swings of seasonal high
and low temps. But some seeds lose germination more than others
even under the best of conditions. So unless you are preparing for
an around the world boat trip, I recommend you only buy enough
seeds to last you a few months at a time. Most seeds that you have
purchased within the past year are likely to be good. Although you
may have heard that some seeds such as alfalfa can last for many
years, that is only true under the best of storage conditions.
Moisture, air (oxidation), heat, and light are the enemies of
seed.
When you receive your seeds, remove them
from their package and store them in a sealed jar. Make sure there
is a rubber gasket to create a perfect seal inside the lid. Keep
moisture out at all costs. Store that jar in a dark, cool place.
Refrigerator? Yes, if you have space, but beware of moisture in
the refrigerator. Only some seeds benefit from refrigeration and
only in the hottest and most humid climates. So refrigeration is
not required. Freezing seeds is okay for some seeds but not for
all. (For details, read the storage section of
Sprouts the Miracle Food.)
WHAT KIND
OF PLASTIC IS USED IN THE FRESHLIFE
The water barrel and sprout barrel are
made out of Styrene Acetylonitrile Resin (SAN), and the water
tubes and trays are made out of Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene
(ABS). Both of these materials are US Food and Drug Administration
(FDA) approved for food contact. I don't trust that government
agency for much, but I think this plastic is as good as it gets.
However, if you search the internet, you can find some negative
information on these materials, and also on Polycarbonate which is
considered the best of the best (it is the bluish heavy grade
plastic water tank you see in office water coolers.)
I have also read that whatever material is used as a container,
plastics, paper, fibers, etc…, that they all leach chemicals into
the water at some point in time. Is that years? or months? Of
course, that does not apply to the Freshlife where the water is
changed daily. But I remember reading that SAN leaches 5 - 15 ppb
(part per billion) of Styrene. I am told FDA approves materials
with a maximum of 30 ppm (parts per million). By that yardstick,
we are at a very safe level. When you get into talking at these
parts per billion levels, there are so many things in our
environment that affect us at that level. Even certified organic
food has been found to contain traces of pesticides in parts per
billion from ambient air and water pollution. In my opinion, at
this level, it is the equivalent to our daily dose of air and
water pollution, or the ambient radiation from overhead electrical
wires, televisions, x-rays when flying on airliners and
ultraviolet radiation from the sun.
HOW TO PURGE A
CLOGGED FRESHLIFE
Is your Freshlife motor not turning? making noise? The motor
can get clogged by calcification from hard water or by residue
matter from the seeds. If this is the case, you can clear the
motor easily yourself. Here is the procedure.
Pour 2 quarts of hot water into the water barrel. Use only the
water barrel. No other blue tubes, no lids or any other
parts--just the open topped water barrel, only. The temperature of
the water is important to the success of this cleaning. The hot
water temperature should be approximately 150 degrees. Do not pour
in boiling water (210 degrees) because it may harm the plastic. If
you do not have a thermometer, then make the water approximately
the temperature of a hot cup of coffee or tea---just a little too
hot to drink. The hot water dislodges the sediment that clogs the
motor.
Pour in the hot water, then immediately plug in the unit and run
it for approximately 3 minutes.
If this technique is successful, you will see the water clouding
up with released sediment and an increase in the whirlpool of
water coming out of the motor. When you see cloudy water, stop and
refill the barrel with fresh hot water and repeat the process.
Repeat until the water appears clear for full 3 minutes and the
motor creates a vigorous whirlpool. That is how you know that you
have successfully cleared the obstruction.
FRESHLIFE WARRANTY
REPAIR SERVICE
If this procedure does not result in normal operation, contact
the manufacturer for warranty service. Include the serial number
on the bottom of the machine. If your unit has to be returned for
replacement, you have the option of returning the unit or you can
just return the motor itself (a much smaller package). The motor
is revealed by unscrewing the three tiny screws around the skirt,
about 2.5 inches up from the bottom of the sprouter. Contact
Tribest toll-free at 888-254-7336, or 562-623-7150. Or via email
at
service@Tribest.com and follow their instructions.
See my
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