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NEW PRODUCT! De-Huller Sprout & Salad Spinner made by OXO Good Grips Little Salad & Herb Spinner 8 inches in diameter, 5 inches tall. Capacity = 2 Quarts

$23.45

This is a great sprout tool! A device to help you De-Hull and dry your sprouts. We have promised this for years, and finally we have delivered. This is an extremely well made salad spinner by OXO. We have used the big version in our house for many years, but this one is perfect for a crop of sprouts. The idea is to fill the container with water, push the hulls out and then spin the sprouts dry. You will no longer have to wait for 12 hours after your final rinse/drain cycle to refrigerate. This is intended for Leafy and Brassica Sprouts as well as Greens, but will work with most sprouts and Micro-Greens. Here are De-Hulling instructions.

Hull Removal

De-hulling is the process of removing hulls (seed coats)
from your finished sprouts.

We didn't de-hull much in our sprout business. We never bother with Beans, we brush what we can off of our Greens (by holding the tray at a 90° angle and rubbing a hand back and forth over the tops of the plants), and since we grew our Leafy sprouts vertically, the hulls fell off naturally as we rinsed (though we did "shave" them if they needed it - which is really fun!). Now that we are home sprouters only, we usually de-hull our Leafy sprouts, but the only sprouts we always de-hull are Brassicas. Their hulls are quite big (relative to the size of their sprout) and retain too much moisture - which can lessen the shelf life of the sprouts.

The sprouts which are typically candidates for De-hulling are grown from Dicot seeds. Seeds whose 1st leaves (cotyledons (ko-ta-LEE-den)) are the seed itself (Alfalfa, Clover, Brassicas and many garden Beans just to name a few) will shed their hull as the leaves unfurl. Any gardener will know from watching a Bean grow - the plant pokes up through the ground looking like a bean on the end of a stem. The bean on the end of the stem splits in two in short order. That bean is now called the plant's cotyledons. True Leaves will follow and the cotyledons will fall off or die as the plant grows - having done their job - as a seed - being the storage vessel for all of the nutrients needed to germinate and grow the plant to a point where it could gather it's nutrients from the Earth and Sun.

In sprouting we grow plants no further then the cotyledons, and then only with certain seeds. The hulls which are left behind vary from sprout to sprout in regards to texture and density. some seeds - like the Brassicas (Broccoli, Radish, Cabbage, etc.) shed very thick hulls which , if not removed can shorten the storage of your sprouts due to their moisture content. Alfalfa and Clover, as well as Mung Beans have very thin hulls which in no way effect the shelf life of your sprouts, but some people prefer to dispose of them for aesthetic or textural reasons. We leave our Mung's hulls alone and remove our Leafy sprout's hulls only sometimes. In neither case do the hulls decrease the storage life of the crop.

Other sprouts also produce hulls. Lentils and Peas - if grown long enough - will shed their hulls as well. In both cases they are not shed from the cotyledon but from the seed which in field planting stays where it is planted - growing a root down and a plant up from that point. That type of seed is called Monocot. Both of these produce rather thick hulls which you may wish to remove. We don't grow them long enough for the hulls to fall off so we do not remove them, and in any case, we consider the hulls completely acceptable and to be a good source of fibre. You decide for yourself - the method is the same for any sprout - - though frankly, it works poorly for beans - they just don't separate from their hulls well and uniformly enough. Experiment though - - it can't hurt and learning is after all life's main pursuit, no?

The Sprout/Salad Spinner Method

A bowl is totally fine, but this method saves you a step or two and allows you to refrigerate your sprouts immediately afterwards, as opposed to having to wait 12 hours. And it's fun too, and there is so little sprout paraphernalia....

We now offer a Salad Spinner for de-hulling.
If you have one - these are the instructions:

The Bowl Procedure

Transfer your finished sprouts into a large bowl or pot.

Fill 3/4 full with cold-cool water. If you are de-hulling Brassicas or Leafy sprouts you can use the force of the water to help you break the sprout mass apart.

Break up the sprouts so that they are all swimming independently (This allows for a much more thorough hull removal.). Swish the sprouts around with your hand (you did wash your hands didn't you =;-) for a minute or so. You will see the top of the water become covered with hulls. Look at the swimming sprouts to see if they look hull free enough for you. Swish as much as you like - you are doing great.

You get a choice now. You are to separate the sprouts and the hulls at this point and some folks like to remove hulls 1st while others like to remove sprouts. Personally I like to remove sprouts so I push the hulls over to the side and grab swimming sprouts.

I do this because I feel that the absence of sprouts swimming in the middle of the bowl makes it easier to remove the hulls from the top. You can use a strainer to do the work or your hand if you like the feel. I use my hands whenever possible. Besides it being easier to control, I think the sprouts like the contact. So - I remove as many sprouts as I can while the hulls are pushed aside, and remove them to a strainer or my sprouting device. Once enough sprouts are removed, so that the hulls are easily gathered and removed, I remove all the floating hulls. Once you have all the hulls skimmed off the top, pull out as many more sprouts as you can.

Regardless of which way you de-hull you will have some sprouts and hulls laying in the bottom. Let the water settle down and then try to separate the sprouts from the sunken hulls and un-sprouted seed. Usually the sprouts will float a bit above the bottom, so I pour off the sprouts - right into my strainer or sprouter and stop when most of what is left is hulls and seeds.

So - remove the sprouts back to the sprouting device or rinse/drain them right in your strainer. Toss the hulls in your compost or garbage.

Rinse the sprouts in cold water again if you like and drain painfully well.

Shaving

If you grew Leafy sprouts in a tray (like Sproutmaster) you can do as above or better yet you can shave the hulls off the top. Many of the hulls fall off in the course of rinsing when growing sprouts in the upright fashion a tray does. You can shave the rest off during your last rinse. Just tip the tray at an angle or hold a sprayer at an angle to the tray and wash the hulls away.

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The Basics of Sprouting:

• • Seed Storage: Keeping your dormant seeds happy.
    
  • Soaking: Turning a dormant seed into a nutritional powerhouse.
  • Rinsing: Water is the key ingredient in sprouts. Use it liberally.
    
  • Draining: It is essential that sprouts be drained thoroughly after rinsing. Sitting in a puddle is the most common cause of crop failure.
    
  • Air Circulation: If your sprouts can't breathe while growing - they can die. Don't put them in a closed cabinet.
    
  • Greening: Photosynthesis is cool, and so is Chlorophyll, but not all sprouts are into it, nor is it necessary. Sprouts of all colors are packed with flavor and nutrition!
  • Cleanliness: Your seed should be clean and your sprouting device should be sterile. Wash your sprouter well between crops with dilute bleach (1 Tbs. of bleach per pint of water is plenty).
    
  • Storage: Properly stored, fresh sprouts will keep for up to 6 weeks in your refrigerator but fresher is better. Never refrigerate wet sprouts.
  • Eat More Sprouts! Grow More Often!

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