Café column & photos by Frank Hyman
Chickens snap up sprouts.
The first time I saw someone sprouting seeds to eat was while visiting a friend living in some crunchy granola group house in the 1980s. The guy held up some fancy jar — made for sprouting seeds — and slowly rolled it in his hands. He held it up to the light from the window over the kitchen sink. Inside was a tangled mess of mung beans that had sprouted and were stretching out: Their seed leaves were seeking bright light while their roots were seeking dark soil. I didn’t want to break it to those seedlings that the only darkness they would find was in the stomach of this guy marveling at his own ability to sprout some beans.