Sprouting Buckwheat

Help! I’m so confused :D

I bought some buckwheat, and need to sprout it for a recipe. I went to look at sproutpeople.com and a couple other websites that say to soak for about 30 mins to an hour, then do this whole rinse/drain/rinse/drain thing. However when I read comments around this website people say to soak the sprouts for 4-6 hours or overnight, then sprout for 2 days. Which is it?

p.s. i love this site!

Comments

  • Hi Katmondu - Everything ive sprouted has had to soak for a number of hours first. When i do buckwheat, i use hulled and i usually soak it for about 10 hours, and it takes 2-3 days to sprout. It will just about double in size (1 cup grain = 2 cups sprouts). I will say im pretty new to sprouting – so far though i have succesfully sprouted barley, buckwheat, kamut, quinoa, millet, and lentils using the strainer method that Juliano describes in Raw. Best of Luck!

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    I think 2-3 days is too long. I used to do my wheat berries and buckwheat for 2-3 days and everything came out a bit stinky and gross. Then I saw a youtube video with Juliano on it and he said that you should only sprout for 24 hours, just until there is maybe just 1mm of tail, and since I have been doing that everything has been coming out really well. No wet dog smell!

  • interesting. i was going by the rule of thumb that the tail should be as long at the seed.. i thought theyve been tasting fine, and i dont get any smell. (okay – sometimes theres a wet dog smell – but its usually from the wet dog! lol) Ill have to try them earlier and see if theyre better… I dont usually get any tail until the end of the first day though.. so i wonder if maybe mine are just slower growing?

  • OK – in my quest to learn, I did a little test (which is still in progress). I took one amount of sprouts and followed the instructions to soak for 45 minutes, then rinsed and drained the sprouts, and laid them between two clean, wet cotton towels. I rinsed and drained every 4 or 5 hours (except when I was sleeping, they stayed in there overnight without being rinsed and drained). This morning they had started sprouting, very small tails. I’d guess they’ll be done tonight (yey! so looking forward to making something with them!). They don’t smell bad.

    On the other hand, I soaked some other buckwheat sprouts overnight. Then this morning I rinsed and drained them and laid them out. They did not have tails this morning, and they were rather… mushy. They were the same size as my other buckwheat sprouts, which gives me the idea that buckwheat absorbs what it needs within the first hour. I think I’ll go with the soak shortly method, then do the rinse/drain cycles. The only comment I can say is that the wet towel is really messy, and some of the buckwheat sticks to it, so it’ll present a challenge when i am cleaning up.

    I’ll post more when I have further results. :)

  • ZoeZoe Raw Newbie

    don’t think all that rinsing and draining is necessary. I only rinse mine once in 24 hours and they’re always fine. They just have to be kept damp, I guess if you live in a hot country you might need to do more rinsing to keep them damp…

  • Hi Zoe! Thanks for the advice – I think you’re right. I found the perfect solution I think. It seems that you soak for 45 mins, then rinse until the water runs clear and drain, then lay the sprouts between layers of wet towels. You’re right, I don’t think there’s any reason to keep rinsing and draining.

    In about 20 hours I had sprout “tails” as long as the seeds themselves. The buckwheat was just the right texture to make what I needed to make. They retained a certain level of “crunch” texture.

    On the other hand, the buckwheat that I soaked overnight? Miserable failure. They’re squishy and mushy. They sprouted eventually, but 20 hours matured much faster. I would highly recommend the soak 45 mins / then rinse and lay between wet layers of towel. Worked very well for me :)

  • hmpf – sorry for the bad advice! im not sure why mine came out so much different..

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