Alternatives to a salad spinner for dehulling sprouts

May 18, 2012

Hi all,

In the first weeks of my learning curve with sprouting I used less online advice

than I do now. I realised that the images of sprouts online rarely showed the

hulls. I stumbled across a methods which works well for me in removing my hulls.

It's the general principle of a salad spinner as used by Sprout People, but

costs much less... so if you're starting out or you are like me and always look

for cheap alternatives, this might be up your street.

We have 'pound shops' in the UK, I believe they are called 'dollar stores' in

the US. You may well be able to pick up a little steel colander from one, just

like this little chap, if not I'm sure they're incredibly cheap:

http://www.stainless-steel-kitchenware.com/gifs/steel-colanders.jpg

The holes are not tiny, but about the diameter of your typical seed hull from

clover, maybe very very slightly smaller than than from radish or mustard. It

matters little, as the hulls are flexible and will wash through the holes

easily.

When I started out, I used to place the colander in a large glass mixing bowl of

water so I could catch any sprouts that fell through. In honesty, very few make

it through the holes, no more than a teaspoon (as I learned by painstakingly

lifted them from the water). It's just not worth worrying about so few, these

days I tend to just eat them if I catch them instead of them rejoining the herd!

I now just fill the sink with water instead.

Dehulling is very easy, I fill the sink with cold water so the colander and

sprouts are immersed to about an inch from the top of the colander. Plenty of

gentle swirling with my hands both separates the the sprouts beautifully, and

pushes most of the hulls through the holes into the surrounding water. A few

that float to the top in the colander can easily be scooped over into the water.

Lifting the colander out of the water then re-immersing a few times help push

the final few through. The sprouts are virtually hull free within a couple of

minutes and very little messing around. I just transfer them to a nylon sieve to

drain for as long as necessary, before storing. Any unsprouted seeds and

residual hulls tend to gather at the bottom of the colander away from the

sprouts when transferring to the sieve.

Having a trap on the sink plug means that the vast majority of hulls are trapped

for composting or disposing of.

I'm looking for a salad spinner at what we call 'car boot sales' as I'm curious

to know just how well the spinner method works; I think the clear advantage is

being able to dry the sprouts better after dehulling , but the actual

dehulling process I suspect, is possibly no easier than my own.

P.S. I've also sprouted mung beans very well in the same colander with a small

plate over the top for weight.

May 18, 2012

Try lentils in that same colander. Also, I do beans in a colander. I sprout them

for four days and then make soup or chili.

ew

Alternatives to a salad spinner for dehulling

sprouts

http://www.stainless-steel-kitchenware.com/gifs/steel-colanders.jpg

The holes are not tiny, but about the diameter of your typical seed hull from

clover, maybe very very slightly smaller than than from radish or mustard. It

matters little, as the hulls are flexible and will wash through the holes

easily.

When I started out, I used to place the colander in a large glass mixing bowl

of water so I could catch any sprouts that fell through. In honesty, very few

make it through the holes, no more than a teaspoon (as I learned by

painstakingly lifted them from the water). It's just not worth worrying about so

few, these days I tend to just eat them if I catch them instead of them

rejoining the herd! I now just fill the sink with water instead.