by Renee Lindstrom, GCFP–Living in Natures Love Lifestyles insideawareness.com

Sprouts
I discovered Urad beans and picked them up along with Mung beans when visiting #yyjs B & V Market on Quadra Street. The intention was to try sprouting them along side the Mung beans for a new taste and colour. What I wasn’t expecting was how these types of sprouts can change the experience of both the summers heat and sugar cravings.
Each of these sprouts are soaked in water overnight and placed on the sprouting rack in the morning. Rinsed twice a day afterwards and sometimes more during the hottest of days. Within a day small sprouts emerge and these beans can be used immediately in salads, soups, rice or grain dishes. They add colour, texture, taste and nutrition.
As the sprouts get longer I tend to enjoy them as a snack that somehow satisfies any food cravings and eliminates food compulsions that arise from emotional experiences.
As this batch sprouts I will explore with planting a few of them in soil. I have not grown these types of beans outside and it would be fun to get to know what their living appearance looks like!
*I do not put my mung beans in the dark so their appearance is not as white or a watery as what is sold in the grocers. They have a substantial quality and colour.
More on the beans:
Urad Bean
Also known as: Vigna mungo, black gram, minapa pappu, mungo or black matpe bean
Origin: India and introduced to the Caribbean, Fiji, Mauritius, and Africa
Protein: (25g/100g)
Vitamins:
- Folates (216 μg/100 g)
- Niacin (1.447 mg /100 g)
- Pantothenic acid (0.906 mg /100 g)
- Pyridoxine (0.281 mg/100 g)
- Riboflavin ( 0.254 mg /100 g)
- Thiamin (0.273 mg /100 g)
- Vitamin-A (23 IU/100 g)
Electrolytes:
- Sodium (38 mg/100 g)
- Potassium (983 mg/100g)
Minerals:
- Potassium (983 mg/100g)
- Calcium (138 mg/100g)
- Iron (7.57 mg/100g)
- Niacin (1.447 mg/100g)
- Thiamine (0.273 mg/100g)
- Riboflavin (0.254 mg/100g)
Mung Bean
Also known as: green gram, maash, or moong bean
Origin: India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, China, Korea, South Asia and Southeast Asia
Protein: (3.2 g/104 g)
Vitamins:
- Vitamin A (21.8IU/104g)
- Vitamin C (13.7mg/104g)
- Vitamin E (0.1mg/104g)
- Vitamin K (34.3mcg/104g)
- Thiamin (0.1mg/104g)
- Riboflavin (0.1mg/104g)
- Niacin (0.8mg/104g)
- Vitamin B (60.1mg/104g)
- Folate (63.4mcg/104g)
- Vitamin B12 (0.0mcg/104g)
- Pantothenic Acid (0.4mg/104g)
- Choline (15.0mg/104g)
Electrolytes:
- Potassium (155 mg/104 g)
- Sodium (6.2mg/104 g)
Minerals:
- Calcium (13.5 mg/104 g)
- Iron (0.9 mg/104 g)
- Magnesium (21.8 mg/104 g)
- Phosphorus (56.2 mg/104 g)
- Zinc (0.4mg/104 g)
- Copper (0.2mg/104 g)
- Manganese (0.2mg/104 g)
Recommended:
- OUNONA Seed Sprouter Tray
- Soil-Free Plastic Wheatgrass, Mung Bean Seeds Sprouting Growing Tray
- 125 grams – Sprouting Seeds – Mung Beans Certified Organic
- 5 pounds – Certified Organic Mung Beans by Food to Live (Sprouting, Non-GMO, Kosher, Bulk)