How to grow mung bean sprouts yourself at home? It’s easy! All you need is a little patience, quality mung bean seeds and my successful home growing technique. Mung bean seeds must be whole and undamaged, and have a high germination rate, which is important for proper sprouting, and they must not have been treated with chemicals – it is good to buy mung bean seeds from specialist seed stores for germination or seeds from organic farming for food purposes. I buy organic mung bean seeds for cooking, choosing them whole – I use them for growing sprouts and for cooking.
I have been using my successful and easy technique for growing mung bean sprouts for several years now with excellent results every time! When we have everything we need, we can begin the process of growing mung bean sprouts.
The following products are required:
200 g dry mung bean seeds
800 ml spring water
you can replace with filtered water
– glass jar with a capacity of 1000 ml
– mesh fabric piece
– elastic for tightening
– a plastic bowl with holes in the bottom for the water to drain
must be made of BPA-free plastic
– a shallow tray with a diameter larger than that of the bowl
– cotton kitchen towel to cover
To grow mung bean sprouts, the seeds must be whole and undamaged, so I check them carefully and remove them if there are any. I wash the glass jar with warm water and dishwashing detergent, set it aside to drain and cool. With a kitchen scale, I weigh the required amount of seeds, wash them under running water and drain them well. I carefully transfer them to the glass jar and fill them with spring water, put the piece of mesh fabric on top and fasten with an elastic band, leave in a warm and dark place for 24 hours. It is a good idea to use spring or filtered water to soak your sprouting seed because tap water is usually treated with fluoride and fluoride containing chemicals for disinfection and most seeds have poor germination in such water!
When mung bean seeds are left in water for 24 hours, they swell and their green shell cracks. I drain the water and wash the swollen seeds several times with running water – many of the seeds already have small sprouts. I leave the glass jar in a warm and dark place for 12 hours, during which time all the seeds germinate and the sprouts reach a size of more than 5 mm. I wash the plastic bowl and the shallow tray well with dishwashing detergent and dry them well. I carefully transfer the sprouted mung bean seeds from the glass jar to the perforated plastic bowl and wash them several times under running water, drain and place the bowl in the shallow tray to collect the remaining undrained water from the washing. I cover the bowl on top with the clean cotton kitchen towel and leave in a dark and warm place for another 12 hours. After 48 hours, the mung bean sprouts are already about 1 cm long and ready to eat – gently crunchy and juicy with a light nutty aroma. I wait for the sprouts to be 72 hours/3 days/ and about 2 cm long to include them in our daily food – I use them raw so they don’t lose their valuable ingredients. Every 12 hours I wash the sprouts under running water /about 2 minutes/ and drain them, wash the shallow tray with dishwashing detergent and then dry it and then put the bowl with the sprouts in it.
My bowl has holes in the bottom for the water to drain out, as well as holes in the sides, through which the green mung bean skins that separate during washing drain away. If you don’t have such a bowl, it’s a good idea to carefully remove the separated green casings because if they remain between the sprouts they can rot despite a good washing with water – then you will have to throw all the sprouts out of the bowl and start over with growing mung bean sprouts at home.
What is important?
I keep the glass jar with the soaked mung bean seeds and then the germinated seeds in a warm and dark place with a constant temperature of 20°C – at a lower growing temperature the sprouts will grow more slowly and at a higher temperature they may dry out or to overheat and start to rot!
I usually put the mung bean seeds in the glass jar in the evening, so the next night after 24 hours I wash them well and let them germinate for 12 hours until the next morning when I wash them again and transfer them to the bowl with holes. I wash the mung bean sprouts with running water twice a day for about 2 minutes /morning and evening/, after 72 hours they are big enough and I start including them in our daily menu raw. I don’t store them in the refrigerator, because I spoil the taste and aroma of the sprouts, and I use them up to 6 days after soaking – they can be consumed after the second day of soaking when the sprouts are about 1 cm long.
When growing sprouts from mung beans, it is good to remember that these are a type of bean seed and can easily rot in high humidity and high temperature in the room. That is why it is extremely important to observe high cleanliness during cultivation, good washing and good draining, removal of the wilted green coverings of the seeds. Use a wide one and not too high, so the germinated seeds will be located in a thin layer – this allows them to be washed well and prevents the sprouts from rotting.
If you are going to grow mung bean sprouts for the first time and you have not tried them before for taste and aroma, start with 1/2 of the indicated amount of seeds and soak 100 g of dry seeds in water!
If you want to have ready-to-eat mung bean sprouts all the time, soak dry seeds in water every 3 days and use 2 or 3 bowls with drainage holes to transfer the germinated seeds and grow the sprouts.
Nutritional value per 100g. product:
Energy value – 92.53 kcal
Proteins – 6.40 g
Carbohydrates – 12.27 g
Fat – 0.27 g
Fiber – 4.27 g