I am wondering how long seeds/beans for sprouting last , and what the
best method to store them for longest possible shelf life.
I am seeing 1 year on many, and that means in a bad SHTF , there is not much
chance of restocking .
Assuming there is no fridge or freezer
In the closet that stays 65-75 F, I've kept some of the specialty ones going for 18 months. They're in a bucket to block light.
I just had about 60-65% germ from an open plastic bag of chia that's been sitting in a shelf on my hot-cold-humid kitchen for about two years now.
I just did bean sprouts from a jar of grocery store adzuki that's about 3 years old and a batch of barely-tails wheat from a 5 y/o Mylar-sealed bag with no O2.
Most sprouting seeds are some kind of garden seed. They can be replaced by allowing some plants to bolt. They also follow the same rules as their for-the-garden partners.
**I have never had spinach or broccoli last more than 2 years at room temp, cellar, fridge or freezer, Ziploc, purchased buckets/packs, canning jars, brown paper bag - it doesn't matter what I do. Iceberg, cos romaine and Tom Thumb only makes it 2-3 years for me; I have 50% germ at year three for almost all conventional salad greens at 3 y/o although black seeded simpson, strawberry spinach, Malabar, and docks seem to be at their usual germination rates at 3 years.
**I have also never had a problem getting 2-3 y/o onions or chives to sprout.
Great info ,thankyou MrsPrep
Ok then what would be the longest for long term storage seed/bean for sprouting ?
It's one thing buy small quantities for usage now, but when thinking long term , might as well
be buying the varieties that store the longest . There's no point buying huge amounts and finding
they are no good in 5 years
Not sure about Mung / Alfalfa
Now I have never tried Adzuki , is it similar to mung ?
I prefer my mung sprouted with just barely a tail
I would think grasses and then legumes would last the longest of the conventional seeds. Clover and dandelion will last decades in the wild, so I would expect the same from them in my fridge for microgreens or sprouts, and "weed" sprouting seeds to last. I know mustards in a plastic jar in the fridge start seeing serious drop offs at about a year. Could be the light, could be just the plant type.
I tend to buy my sprouting beans/peas/lentils, radish, and mustard by the pound from a feed-seed farmer's store because it's 1/10 the cost of buying them as "sprouting seeds." I get non-inoculated beans. For the price of a couple tubs of sprouting seeds, I can buy a dozen, 15, 18 pounds, hundreds of quarts of sprouts once made. I don't grow that much, but I tend to rotate them to victim shelter's, youth groups, and use them in outlaw gardening to hold soil and cover areas and feed critters (and maybe people) at 18 months or so.
Let me say: I really am not a mung fan, but I will try it just barely-tail style and give it another shot.
Adzuki with barely a tail tastes like a bean. I think it's somewhat similar to cooked kidneys - toothy, a little sweet, but a bean-bean flavor.
Raw kidney beans are apparently toxic, and I like having a fairly similar flavor without standing at a stove or wondering if it's going to rain and flood my solar oven or just drip here and there. I tend to go easy on them, though, just in case "they" decide there's something bad in there.
I don't get the bitter or the licorice flavors that can come from lentil sprouts or some of the others when I do barely-tails adzuki.
I just semi-mashed mine with sprouted buckwheat (barely tails) and radish and mustard (1" and 1/4" respectively), and blended some of the beans with a little olive oil and some garlic and grated carrots to make a hummus-type melba toast/crudite spread. Nummers!
I toss them into high-heat stirfry or do a peanut or soy sauce with them over spaghetti squash, too.
Chickpeas are kind of my favorite bean sprout. Radish is my favorite "green" sprout. Alfalfa and chia are there to remind me that my species has evolved past eating grasses. I have a similar feeling toward clover and fenugreek, although I know they're good for you. If I did not feel bad about the chia going bad because I stock it as a high-fat salad seed, I would not grow chia sprouts. There is no stage where chia tastes GOOD, IMO, although some hummus and roasted red pepper or some balsamic vinegar can help mask it in a big way.
Sprouted chickpeas and quinoa or amaranth sprouts is simply fabulous as-is for a salad topper or grain salad, or you turn zucchini into latkes and add a sprinkle of hot radish sprouts, a little mayo or sour cream, and top with the chick peas and quinoa "just tails" sprouts, sprinkle with some black pepper, and healthy actually tastes pretty darn good.



