Sprouts are eaten root and all - Green's roots are buried in something (soil or some moisture holding something) so we don't eat them. Greens are just a plant which grows vertically and which we harvest by cutting it close to it's base.
Some of these seeds form gelatin sacks - they are called mucilaginous. Those seeds are never soaked - unless you are performing an experiment - and they will never sprout in a conventional sprouter. Mucilaginous seeds store water around themselves, which is a totally awesome trick in nature - but makes a slippery mess in a normal sprouter, but they do make great Greens - we call them Micro-Greens.
Any tiny seed (alfalfa, clover, broccoli, arugula, cabbage, cress, radish.....) will produce such a plant if grown in this manner, but we don't list them all here, we just list the ones most commonly grown as Micro-Greens - but - feel free - try any tiny seed. Experiment!
This mildly spicy mucilaginous Brassica (the same family as Broccoli, Cabbage, Mustard and Radish...) has one of the greatest flavors on earth! Arugula is a very fast grower which doesn't even need (and should not have) soaking. Just sprinkle some seeds on moist soil or a thoroughly moistened Hemp Bag or a Miniature Garden and watch your crop grow - in just 5 days - into the tastiest green food you've ever experienced. Once you have enjoyed Arugula you won't be able to imagine life without it!
The secret ingredient in our French Garden Mix, Arugula was not available as an organic crop back in 1994. Working for years with our dear farmer friends Mark + Ila we have established it as a standard certified organic crop which has been added by many a wise sprout grower to their ingredient list. Arugula along with Cress (which has exactly the same organic history), Onion and Garlic Chive are without a doubt the most essential flavor additions to any sprout kitchen, but to us Arugula is the most essential and unique!
FYI - when mucilaginous seeds are mixed with non-mucilaginous seeds in the proper proportions (our secret) they can be sprouted using traditional sprouting methods.
Famous for it's antioxidant content. Broccoli sprouts contain something like 50 times the sulfurophane found in mature broccoli, by weight. Broccoli Greens haven't been researched to the best of our knowledge, so we can't be sure of nutritional specifics (in fact, due to a patent held (by the Dr. who headed the research team) under the company name Brassica Protection Partners, we can not and do not make any claims as to the benifits of Broccoli Sprouts or Greens or the seeds we sell =;-) but they are wonderfully tender and tasty - especially if you like broccoli.
Our current lot of Broccoli produces the highest quality Broccoli sprouts we've ever seen and likewise grows fantastic Micro-Greens.
We always look for easy and productive as seed that produces a flavorful crop. We test up to 10 different crops of broccoli seed every year and we know we have the best seed anywhere (as professional sprout growers we need all of our seeds to be of the highest possible quality). We are sorry we can't find a certified organic broccoli seed that comes close in quality or flavor, but we keep testing and hope to offer certified organic seed someday. Though this is a conventional seed, it is clean as well as productive. As with all of our seeds it is tested and certified free of pathogens and is, of course, NOT treated. Beyond that, the finest test of all is this: We sell hundreds of units of sprouts every week throughout the upper Mid-West and have since 1993 and no one anywhere has ever complained about our sprouts!
Variety: Green Sprouting Calabrese
aka Pepper Grass, this spicy Brassica (the same family as Broccoli and Radish...) is, in flavor, something like Watercress and is a very fast grower which doesn't even need (and should not have) soaking - it is mucilaginous, so do not soak it - ever. Just sprinkle some seeds on moist soil or a thoroughly moistened Hemp Bag or the ultimate Micro-Greens device, a Miniature Garden and watch your crop grow - in just 5 days - into a wonderfully tasty micro-green which will become a necessary ingredient in your sprout kitchen. Also a great crop to grow in your office along with other Micro-Greens, especially if you use the Miniature Garden!
A combination of 2 different cabbage varieties grown on soil or similar medium (Miniature Garden or a horizontal Hemp Bag) for their very tender greens.
A mildly spicy, very tender Green grows from this mucilaginous seed. Another Micro-Green which is perfect for the Miniature Garden or a vertical Hemp Bag. Desired by many for nutrtional qualities of the seed, it is often used for teas which aid intestinal health, added to cereals, breads or just ground up in healthy drinks. Whether you are growing Flax or just looking for seed to eat - these are beautiful seeds!
Tastes just like horseradish. not as easy to grow as other Micro-Greens, but worth the effort. Wonderfully tangy. This is the only NON-mucilaginous Mustard we know of so it can also be grown as a sprout. The Micro-Green however, is, you guessed it, best grown on the Miniature Garden or on a vertical Hemp Bag.
An exceptionally tasty and aromatic mix. This one works well grown on soil or similiar medium, a thoroughly moistened Hemp Bag or the ultimate Micro-Greens device, a Miniature Garden. A beautiful gourmet addition to salads, sanwiches, tacos, etc. - just scatter a bunch in or on top to spice up your life!
Micro-Greens don't need much in the way of supplies, but there are some seeds that may benefit from soaking and maybe a little pre-sprouting, so we've listed a couple sprouters here as well as bundles. we also offer trays for those who want to use soil or grow big crops of Micro-Greens.
The only sprouter made just for Micro-Greens!
Small and attractive. Perfect for sprouting at work.
Just sprinkle small seeds on the moist felt pads (keep 'em moist) and watch 'em grow!
Not a big crop sprouter, but a very fun sprouter!
A great sprouter for Micro-Greens!
Lay it on a plate, get it wet,
sprinkle some seeds, keep it wet,
watch 'em grow!
Micro-Greens are just sprouts which grow like plants - they bury their roots in (in this case) a moist felt pad and grow straight up, unfurling leaves atop thin stems. This is a really cool way to grow all sorts of tiny seeds - like Alfalfa, Clover, any of our Gourmet Clover based blends (French Garden, Russian Mix, etc.), Mustard, Radish, Broccoli and more. It is The Perfect way to grow Arugula and Cress (which are mucilaginous seeds which must be grown as Greens because the gel sack they form makes them impossible to sprout in a traditional sprouter) which is all the reason anyone needs to get into this - once you've had Arugula and Cress Micro-Greens your life will never be the same! They are just Awesome!
Great for office sprouting too!!!
Single Harvest packs of Micro-Greens: Alfalfa, Arugula, Broccoli, Cress and Radish
designed to be grown using The Miniature Garden Sprouter. These are smaller than our other Single Harvest packs because less seeds are used when growing with the Miniature Garden.
Our selection of black plastic "nursery" Trays is intended for use in growing soil based Grasses and Greens. We offer several sizes so that you can grow crops the way you want to.
All Trays have drainage (except the 11 x 22 inch Solid, Drip Tray).
Our Sizes: 5 x 5 inch - fit 8 per 11 x 22 inch Tray.
11 x 11 inch - fit 2 per 11 x 22 inch Tray.
11 x 22 inch - Solid (without drainage holes/slits), Drip Tray. Use this to hold whatever Growing Trays you decide on - to contain water runoff.
11 x 22 inch Growing Tray - Standard (light) weight plastic is fine for planting but better as a cover as they break relatively easily.
11 x 22 inch Growing Tray - Heavy Duty plastic is perfect for planting. These are expensive, but they are almost impossible to break under normal conditions, so they pay for themselves quickly.
Plastic Trays have "gone to the dogs" over the past 7 years! When we started back in 1993, our standard weight Trays lasted through 100 plantings! Nowadays the standard weight plastic lasts through maybe 10 plantings on average =:-O ..... The 5 inch trays are so flimsy that we have cut the price to 25¢ and suggest you think of them as disposeable - ouch - sorry Earth. We continue to search for better plastic, but for now this is the best we can get. The one bright spot is the Heavy Duty 11 x 22 inch Trays. They are the best planting trays we've ever used!
In any case - it is good to have a second Tray - use one as a cover for the one you're growing in - you should consider this for all Tray sizes as covers are essential in the early stages of growing. Read our Grass Growing or Greens Growing Instructions to get a better idea of what we're saying.
3 different options for the home grass/greens grower. All options include 1 (one) Solid (no drainage holes) 11 x 22 inch black plastic Drip Tray to be used as a container for the Growing Trays - so that muddy water will be contained. All options also contain a lid or lids which are the same size as the Growing Trays, so that you can cover them during the first few days after planting (to conserve moisture and achieve the desired humidity).
FYI: You can expect about 8 ounces of Grass Juice per 11 x 22 inches. Greens vary in weight: 11 x 22 inches will grow as much as 2.5 pounds of Sunnys, 2 pounds of Buckwheat, Mesculin Sprout Greens or Spicy Salad Greens, 1.5 pounds of Pea Shoots, Broccoli, Mustard, Arugula, Cress and any others unmentioned.
1) Single Crop: Growing Tray is Heavy Duty, Cover is Lighter Duty.
2) Two Crop: 4 (four) 11 inch square Trays - 2 for Growing, 2 as Lids.
3) Ounce a Day/8 Crop: 8 Cells for Growing and 8 as Covers. Have a Fresh Crop 8 days a week!
For Pre-Sprouting Only
Your basic wide-mouth one-quart mason jar. This is the most common sprouting device. We suggest that you buy either a Stainless Steel Screen lid or plastic lid.
Fits any wide-mouth mason jar and has the narrowest mesh size of any screen lid. Stainless is great to work with! The ring that comes with these is not a perfect fit so we often use a standard chrome plated canning ring to hold the screen.
A Small Mesh, yellow, plastic, Screen Lid for wide mouth Mason Jars. If growing small seeds this is the lid to use. This is one of the 3 from the Sprout-Ease Econo-Sprouter set.
170 Mendell St.
San Francisco, CA 94124
Toll Free:
877/777-6887
(877/SPROUTS)
We only use the phone for emergencies.
Back in 2001 we were still using the phone. One day I was talking to a long-time customer while pushing my (then 4 year old) daughter on the swing in our backyard (this is what a mom n' pop business is like on the internet). It dawned on me that my priorities were severely messed up, so I stopped using the phone. I love to talk and I love to help, but my family would never see me if I picked up the phone again, and that's just wrong don't you think?!
The very best way to contact us is through E-mail =:-)
We are quite fast and VERY thorough. We love to help.
We have been an internet only business since 2001. We are not a big corporation. We are but 2 people, Mom n' Pop Sprout. We decided after years of juggling our family's (kids, dogs, cats and even our own) needs, and the needs of Sproutpeople, that we had to make more time for our kids, so we stopped talking on the phone. All calls go to voice mail and have since 2001.
We are very fast to fill orders and answer e-mail, and though we wish we could make the time to talk, we just can't seem to get more minutes into a each hour. We are many years older than when we started and our days are too short and made up of too few hours to do everything. This limitation in our business has not kept us from pleasing our customers, nor from growing (as we have every year since 1993). We do what we do as well as we can, and we think we do it very well indeed.
We appreciate your patronage more than we can say. We ask that you use the phone for emergencies only and that you search our site for answers before e-mailing us. This site is bigger than any 4 sprout books put together, it is always available and it is free, and we know that almost all questions are answered here.
Thanks again for your support and your many kind words.
Sproutpeople