Sprouting FAQ's
Questions About Sprouts & Sprouting
Q. Why Sprouts?
A. Growing your own sprouts is healthy, fast, fun, and inexpensive. Fresh sprouts liven up any salad, soup, sandwich or stir fry, and our sprouting seed mixes make an excellent healthy snack. See our top ten reasons to sprout!
Q. Are sprouts hard to grow?
A. Sprouts are surprisingly easy and fun to grow. You can grow them on any kitchen countertop, and they don’t take up much space. Our handy multi-tray stackable sprouting system, or using multiple sprouting jars allows you to have fresh sprouts always at the ready. All our sprouters come with complete growing instructions. You can also download our handy grow guides.
Q. Why organic?
A. Certified Organic products are non-genetically modified, chemical and pesticide free--just as nature intended. Organic is just cool
Q. What does certified organic mean?
A. Handy Pantry Sprouting is certified by the USDA. Organic certification means that we are regularly inspected and pass rigorous standards for organic certification. You can learn more about it from the USDA:
http://www.ams.usda.gov/nop/indexIE.htm
Q. What is the shelf life of your sprouting seeds?
A. Most seeds will sprout with a very high germination rate for several years. After about the second or third year, the germination rate begins to decline a bit. However, keep in mind that seeds are designed by nature to keep for prolonged lengths of time and still sprout. Just like the wheat (a strain called “kamut”) found in Egyptian tombs which still sprouted after thousands of years. Our Food Storage Sprouting Kit includes seeds that are packed oxygen free, which effectively extends the shelf life of the seeds for 5 to 10 years without drastically affecting the germination rate.
Q. Were do your seeds come from?
A. We source our seeds from a variety of US-based Certified Organic suppliers. Most of our seeds are produced in the US or Canada. Some seeds, like Mung Bean, are imported from China.
Q. Why aren’t your Chinese Cabbage Seeds organic?
A. All of our seeds are certified organic, except Chinese Cabbage. Chinese Cabbage seeds are extremely difficult to get, and even more so as certified organic. Because we cannot reliably get certified organic Chinese Cabbage, we carry the next best thing: chemical free seeds. Chemical free seeds are free of chemicals and pesticides, but they are not certified organic.