12 Steps to Whole Foods

Sprouting and Dehydrating
The idea of soaking and sprouting grain and drying it into bread comes from an apocryphal book of scripture
known as The Essene Gospel of Peace that some say contains the teachings of Jesus to a congregation of
Essenes.
To make Essene bread, you sprout wheat, spelt, kamut, rye, or oats according to the directions below. When the
tail (or “hairs”) are about as long as the wheat berries, you then grind the grains (with a meat grinder or food
processor, or you can use a Champion juicer with the homogenizing plate on). You can also add in chopped
nuts or dried fruits such as almonds, pumpkin or sunflower seeds, dates, raisins or apricots. Then form the
dough into patties about 1" thick and dehydrate them at 100-115° for several hours until the desired texture is
achieved. (In an emergency situation, you could allow the bread to dry in the sun as described in The Essene
Gospel.) Even a small amount of this bread is very filling, because it is so nutrient dense.
If your family doesn’t like sprouted- or fermented-grain food, you can sprout wheat berries and then dry them
in your dehydrator below 115°. Then grind them in your grain mill and use the flour in any recipe that calls for
it, preferably recipes not cooked at high heats.
How Do I Sprout Grains, Nuts, and Seeds?
More complicated ways of sprouting exist: a Yahoo online group is dedicated just to sprouting, and they talk
about complicated methods using blankets, mesh bags, soil, and all kinds of gadgets, and they support each
other in successes and failures. The following simple and quick method has worked for me the past 15 years
and takes just a minute or two of my time. (I also show this in a short GreenSmoothieGirl YouTube video:
http://tiny.cc/4VM1J.)
For anything you choose to germinate, fill of a pint or quart jar with the seed or nut. Leave it on a counter
with the remaining of the jar filled with filtered water. Let small seeds like alfalfa/clover/radish sit for about
4-6 hours, and then put the sprouting lid on and drain the water completely. The sprouting lid can be
cheesecloth inside a canning lid, or wire or plastic mesh (I buy plastic mesh from craft stores) cut to fit the
inside of a canning lid. You can also purchase canning lids with screens in them at health food stores.
With larger beans like mung or garbanzo, or seeds like sunflower or pumpkin, soak 8 them hours or overnight
before draining. (If you accidentally forget and let them go too long, it’s no big deal—just drain them as soon
as you remember.) I find soybeans and wheat berries difficult to sprout, because they go sour or moldy easily.
Wheat berries sprout in soil more easily.
Put the jar of soaked and drained seeds on its side, turning it two or three times during the day. The second
morning, rinse and drain the sprouts again. You do this until you see the seeds/nuts just barely begin to grow a
sprout, usually after a day or two. With almonds or other nuts, don’t worry about them growing a sprout: they
are germinated and “live” after soaking for eight hours.
Then remove the sprouting lid and put a regular, air-tight canning lid on the jar. Put the sprouts in the fridge,
where growth will slow, and they will last a week or two. Sprouting will happen more quickly in warm
weather. If you live where it is hot and humid, or if you are sprouting in late summer, rinse and turn your
sprouts more often.
202 12 Steps to Whole Foods
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw