|
 Sprouts and baby greens are obtained by getting seeds to germinate under controlled humidity and temperature conditions.
They are a nutritionally complete food rich in the vitamins, enzymes, minerals, proteins, trace elements and antioxidants that are essential for good health. And best of all, they are wonderfully tasty and easy to incorporate into any kind of meal.
Although it’s easy to grow sprouts at home if you can provide the right humidity and temperature conditions, it’s not so easy to find high quality organic seeds or exactly the variety you want. So KIMUAK does the hard part for you. We offer a wide array of sprouts grown from certified organic seeds, each variety harvested at its prime, washed and packaged ready to eat. Having a broad selection of fresh sprouts at home was never so easy!
Sprouts: Past and Present
Sprouts have been eaten since antiquity due to their nutritional and therapeutic qualities. As far back as 3000 B.C., people in China used them as both food and medicine, and there is evidence that they formed part of the diet of other ancient Oriental civilizations as well. We know that they first reached Europe toward the 18th century and were valued primarily as a remedy against scurvy, and later as a food. But while sprouts have always been present in the diet of many countries of eastern Asia, here in the Western world it was not until the 1970s that they began to spark genuine widespread interest. Today, thanks to their exceptional taste and nutritional value, sprouts can be found in supermarkets and fruit-and-vegetable shops around the world.
A live food with high nutritional value
 Sprouting seeds are a live food whose nutritional value continues to increase until the moment of consumption. The vitamin content of a germinating seed grows by as much as 600% during the sprouting process. Sprouts and baby greens have the same nutrients as vegetables and legumes, but in much greater proportion. For example, the vitamin B12 content of a dormant lentil is 0.43%, a proportion that rises to 2.37% after 4 days of germination.
In addition to being a rich source of nutrition, sprouts are the least contaminated food there is, for two reasons: because only high quality seeds are used and no chemical fertilizers or pesticides are involved in the growing process.
Many health benefits
Sprouts have long been valued for health reasons:
- Including them in your daily diet helps to bolster the immune system, restore intestinal balance and stimulate digestive processes.
- Due to their high vitamin and mineral content, sprouts are especially recommendable for children and during pregnancy.
- They help to eliminate toxins and many of the impurities absorbed from the environment.
- They help to reduce cholesterol and are used in special diets for cancer patients. Broccoli sprouts contain extremely high concentrations of a helpful enzyme called sulforaphane. Sulforaphane was discovered in broccoli in 1992 by Paul Talalay, M.D., of Johns Hopkins University. Because concentrations of sulforaphane and other cancer-fighting substances are from 20 to 50 times higher in three-day-old broccoli sprouts than in mature plants, Talalay says that "small quantities of broccoli sprouts may protect against the risk of cancer as effectively as much larger quantities of mature vegetables of the same variety". Broccoli sprouts, he believes, "offer a simple dietary means of reducing cancer risk".
- Sprouts are a predigested food and therefore are recommended for people with digestive problems, intolerance to cooked legumes, and for children and the elderly.
- Sprouts and baby greens have very few calories and therefore are an excellent way to brighten up the diets of weight watchers. For example, there are only 18 calories in 100 g of alfalfa sprouts.
- Since they are a whole food, sprouts appease the appetite for much longer.
Meal Ideas
 Sprouts are eaten raw, since cooking causes them to lose much of their nutritional value. They are tiny and eaten whole – roots, stem and leaves.
They can be eaten alone or incorporated into any kind of dish, including salads, sandwiches and omelettes, or sprinkled onto almost anything as a tasty, colorful garnish. See our Recipes section for suggestions and ideas.
Watercress, radish, mustard, onion and fenugreek sprouts can be used as spices to add zest to any meal.
|
