does anyone know where i can purchase sprouting mung beans so that i can have my own supply of them? i have tried the few health food shops in cambridge and they only sold the dried ones, i have bought a packet bargain at 85p but got to soak them for at least 5 hours, ah just read the back of the packet, you can sprout these ones after soaking them

So, you need help or not? are you soaking and sprouting? 85p sounds good, but I want to know how many sprout and how many don't. I suppose asking for size of sprout is going a little too far?

Now I've heard of mung beans and that they're supposed to be really good for you....but what are they? and what sort of dishes would you make with them?

Any of the seed suppliers - Thomson and Morgan for example - usually stock them, At certain times of the year any garden store, or even supermarket, will have them on their seed stands. by the way, the dried ones are the viable seed - just soak to germinate.

yes need help, not a gardening person, but have put these seeds on a bed of soil and cotton wool, am hoping for the best

oops like you do cress

Same thing really - just keep moist and warm and they will germinate. Used to do them in the airing cupboard!.

Hi Tina, if you want some step by step instructions there are quite a few sites on the web with details.

I remember attemping this a long time ago with the 'cress' method on kitchen roll, not very successfuly!

Hopefully the instruction on these sites or others if you do a search will get you started and be more successful than I was.

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If you want to turn the mung beans into beansprouts, soak them overnight in water.You will need a large wide neck jar, drain the water, rinse and drain again.Cover the neck of jar with something like muslin,use a rubber band round the neck.Put the jar in a warm place, like the airing cupboard.You then have to rinse and drain the beans 3 times a day for about 3-5 days, when they should be about 2in long. Spread the drained beansprouts and leave on a tray and leave in the day light for a couple of hours.They will then be ready for use, store in the fridge .Years ago fresh orange used to come in wide necked glass jars,I think you can buy a jar from lakeland for sprouting beans.I can't be bothered to do this any more, I just buy beansprouts from the supermarket.

I meant to say the reason why I can't be bothered is because there are lots of little green bits to pick out once they have sprouted.The mung beans can be bought at Holland and Barrett.

omigod, i have read both what terry gave me and what essexgirl did, totally confused, so what i have done is put the seeds in water (after retreiving them from the soil and cottonwool (rustie i have loads left)

they have swelled and some have little tails, does that mean they are germinating?

yes, they are germinating. Keep them warm and moist. Good luck.

Hi Tina, so sorry if I added to your confusion, really, really did not meant to. The methods are not too disimilar.

I would go with what Essex Girl said then you can blame her and not me for giving you those sites

TerryDox,thankyou for that yes, I'll take the blame Tina,but do make sure you use something with a wide neck, if not, you will have a problem getting the sprouted beans out.Let us know how it goes, good luck.

no need to apologise terry, you were vey helpful and you too essex girl, thank you both prawny they are about 5 times bigger today i want to try alpha aplha next as they are supposed to be good for you too

Tina6 have you been to the daily bread co-operative on Kings Hedges Road in Cambridge? It's got a good range of organic and healthy foods - loads of beans and the like and it's reasonable prices. I can recommend it highly.

no i haven't jen, thanks for that , infact kings hedges road is not that far away from me either

It's about half was along opposite the college.

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My youngest goes to nursery in the scince park, so we go there quite often. We live in Milton.

small world jen i'm in arbury, shall check that website out thank you

wow just had a peek, it looks fab, like a warehouse full of goodies, might have a snifty on saturday, looks like the sort of place i could spend hours in lol

ah just had an idea, would it be sensible to put them in a shallowish dish/plastic container? i can't wait till they are edible