Grow your own bean sprouts and then use them in a tasty salad. Children's gardening expert, Di Goodwin, tells you more ...
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In November, when the weather is beautiful and warm, our thoughts turn to spending lots of time outside. Sometimes it's too hot to eat a cooked meal, so we feel like a salad instead. Here I show you how to grow some plants that you can use in salads. Remember that salads are healthy, as all the goodness is still inside the plant because it has not been cooked. These plants (bean sprouts) are very easy to grow. They can be grown at any time of the year and take only 4-6 days to grow. |
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What you need: Sieve, mung beans (which you can buy from your nursery or health shop), bowl, plastic tray, cotton-wool, jug, water. |
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1. Put two large spoonfuls of mung beans into a sieve. Rinse them. Soak the beans overnight in cold water. They will swell a little as the seed-coat absorbs the water and gets soft. |
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2. Lay some cotton-wool on the bottom of a plastic tray. Put water on it to make it damp |
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3. Here Nicola, Michael and Christopher are spreading the beans all over the cotton-wool. |
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4. Slide the tray into a food bag or clear plastic sheet. |
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5. Put the tray in a black plastic bag. Put the tray in a warm place. Check each day that the cotton-wool has not dried out. Water it to keep it damp. When the shoots are about 7cm long, pull them off the cotton-wool. Rinse them well. |
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6. Eat your mung beans in a crunchy salad with tomatoes, lettuce, carrots or ingredients of your choice. |
