About Sprouting and Germinating
There are many foods that can be sprouted including vegetables seeds, grains, beans and legumes. Sprouting essentially boosts the nutrition that is available to us from the seed. Each seed, by nature is coated in phytic acid (and prohibitor enzymes) a natural substance that prevents the carbohydrates in the seed from being broken down in our digestive tract. This phytic acid is nature’s way of protecting the seed from being eaten by animals, birds and insects before it contacts the soil and grows. When we take a seed and sprout them, we essentially break down the phytic acid barrier (and the prohibitor enzymes) so that our digestive systems can absorb and digest all the carbohydrates and all the abundant nutritional elements provided by each seed.
Sprouting and germinating legumes, pods, grains or seeds to the highest enzyme activity converts carbohydrates to digestible sugars and active enzymes – increasing the nutritional value of vitamins and minerals and bringing full digestibility to carbohydrates. Some of the vitamins and minerals that do not appear in non-sprouted products become available as a result of sprouting.
There are other benefits of sprouting. These include enhanced flavour and shortened cooking time. Sprouting also increases the shelf-life of products 500% due to the conversion of carbohydrates to digestible sugars – preventing water molecules from dispersing.
