Have you heard about sprouted foods? And if so, are you wondering what the big deal is?

When foods are sprouted – and that means everything from nuts to seeds to grains – it increases the bioavailable nutrients and phytonutrient content. In other words, sprouting breaks down the seed as it brings forth new life and vital nutrients are increased. Sprouting also reduces phytic acid making it easier for your body to digest and absorb nutrients.

What can be sprouted? Nuts, seeds, grains, beans. Each has a different, beneficial nutrient profile, but all have increased nutritional benefit. In particular, when green mung beans are sprouted, you get increased Vitamin A, B’s, potassium, iron, magnesium and calcium as well as dietary fiber and protein.

I wanted to not only try my hand at sprouting, but also try incorporating sprouted green mung beans into our diet. I tested a Green Mung Bean Sprouting Kit recently, from the Green Mung Beans website (the owner is a friend).

Here are a few glimpses of the process:

Cute packaging

Dried, organic green mung beans being put in the sprouting kit. Rinsing and soaking is next.

After following directions for draining and rinsing for the next three days, my beans have begun to sprout!

The Green Mung Bean Sprouting Kits comes with their signature salad recipe consisting of a variety of veggies like carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion and cilantro tossed in a lemon juice dressing, but my favorite way to eat them was with chopped kale and an ‘almost caesar’ dressing. Delicious!

If you are interested in giving sprouting a try, this kit is easy to use and easy to clean. It's made from stainless steel and the lid has a strainer built in. You could easily sprout other seeds or nuts in it as well. The Green Mung Beans website also sells the organic green mung beans so it's one stop shopping to get started. You can find more information on their website at www.greenmungbeans.com