How to Sprout Lentils

Sprouting is something that everyone can do to grow fresh nutritious food for very little cost. For about five years, the Gustos have been growing our own sprouts and eating them every day.

At this point, we have developed our own method of sprouting, which is what I am going to show you.

To start things off, we’ll focus on lentils.

What’s a Lentil?

Lentils are a small brownish green legume found with the dry beans and rice. The store brand usually costs about $1.40 per pound.

Note: You can sprout several different types of dry beans, but some of them are poisonous, so make sure you choose something you can safely sprout! Example: NEVER eat sprouted kidney beans.

What do I need to start sprouting lentils?

A bag of dried lentils

A wide-mouth glass jar

A lid and a screen

Metal ring lids that come with a canning jar (they rust, only use them once or twice).
Plastic lid, cut with a hole-saw
Metal screen from hardware store, cut with heavy duty shears. You need this for sprouting small seeds.
Plastic screen, cut from craft store “Plastic Canvas”. Large holes, lots of air-flow

If you don’t have any of that stuff, a rubber band and some window screen works pretty well, too!

Getting Started:

Prepare your materials

Wash and sanitize the jar, lid, and screen to prevent the growth of bacteria and mold. Do this before each new sprouting “crop”

Wash in hot water by hand or in a dish washer.
Rinse in a light vinegar or bleach solution.

Start with about 1/4 cup of dry lentils.

Pick through them and remove any small stones and debris, and rinse well with cool water.
Note: I used a half cup for this tutorial – it was way too much!

Soak

Cover lentils with water and soak for 8 – 12 hours.

Leave lots of room for lentils to expand.

Rinse and Drain

Drain and rinse your lentils well with cool, clean water. They will have doubled in size.

Rinse and drain lentils every 8 – 12 hours.

Place jar upside down in a bowl or rack at an angle steep enough to prevent water from pooling. Ensure there is plenty of air-flow through the lid. We keep our sprouting jars in a dish drying rack with a drainboard that drains into the sink.

Photo below – Left: Lentils Right: Black Eyed Peas.
We have switched to all plastic lids now, this photo is a few years old.

At approximately 24 hours, the lentils are beginning to sprout.

If you are going to cook them, you could stop here. I like to sprout them a lot longer so that I can eat them raw.

Sprouted lentils after 36 hours:

Sprouts are Ready to Eat!

At 3 days, (below), the sprouts can be eaten raw.

……..

At 3 to 3.5 days, the sprouts begin growing little leaves.

That is when we start eating them!

Five Days