What are Sprouted Wheat Berries?
All about sprouted wheat berries:
Wheat berries can be found at whole foods or other health food stores. You buy them dry and sprout them yourself. The sprouting process is super easy, fun, and helps you get more connected to your food.
How to sprout wheat berries
The first step is the soaking process which is soaking the wheat berries in water from 8 hours to overnight. The next morning, strain the wheat berries and rinse them, letting the water drip out. Leave them in a cool, dark area with a mesh covering and just let them sit. The next day, do the same thing and rinse them, let the water drain out and leave again. This process can continue for 2-3 days until you start to see a tail of about ⅛ of an inch grow on each of the berries. If you rinse the berries twice a day then the process will go even quicker. Once the tail has formed then you’re done! The berries can be stored for up to 2 week in a sealed container in the refrigerator.
Benefits of Sprouting
My favorite thing about sprouting the wheat berries is that the sprouting process is a hack to increase the amount of nutrients that you’re getting from eating the wheat berries! For example, the amount of Vitamin C, folic acid, niacin and riboflavin can be up to 100X higher in sprouted wheat berries than unsprouted wheat berries! There are also claims to suggest that the protein content of sprouted wheat berries is much higher as well.
In addition to the increased nutrient content, sprouting the berries also neutralizes a chemical called phytic acid. Phytic acid is a chemical found in many seeds, nuts and legumes. It actually prevents our bodies from absorbing a lot of the essential minerals such as zinc, magnesium, copper, and iron in these foods. By neutralizing this chemical, we are actually allowing the body to take advantage of the minerals in these foods.
Sprouting also reduces the glycemic index of the grains so our blood sugar does not spike as much when we eat it! This helps to keep our energy stable throughout the day and avoid a crash.
Lastly, sprouting grains increases the enzymes in the grains because we are actually bringing life to the grains! This increased enzyme activity actually aids your digestive tract in digesting these foods. This helps to eliminate any discomfort that some people have with the digestion of grains. This positive benefit will only occur if the sprouts are kept raw and not cooked or baked. The heating up of the grains will denature the beneficial digestive enzymes.
How to use sprouted wheat berries
Sprouted wheat berries actually taste really good and make a great addition to many dishes
Add to salads (Kale and sweet potato salad)
Dried out and ground into flour for baking breads or other baked goods
Throw into muffins, cookies or breads either whole or roughly chopped (Adds great texture)
Throw into any cooked dish
Plant the sprouts and grow into wheatgrass for juicing
There are so many benefits to sprouting wheat berries. It’s a fun project to get into and see how many different ways to incorporate this beneficial grain into so many new dishes!
