Alfalfa Sprouts

Alfalfa sprouts are mostly used raw, appearing relentlessly in salads and sandwiches. They appeared on our salad bars in the 1970s, when they garnished every second dish at homes of our health-trendy friends. That is, until salmonella contamination was discovered in the North American supply in 1995. The rest of us, who had never found them very interesting in the first place, practically rubbed our hands in glee as our health-conscious friends dropped their forks over their take-out salads at lunch as the news spread. A rash of cases, which didn’t get quite as much press, followed in the US and Canada up until mid 1996, then another salmonella-related recall occurred in 2003. Sprouts are particularly vulnerable as they are grown under conditions that are also idea for bacteria, and as a fresh food, cannot be sterilized.

The American Food & Drug Administration (FDA) now advises that you not serve raw alfalfa sprouts to young children, to seniors, or to anyone with compromised immune systems (either through AIDS or chemotherapy, etc.)

When purchasing, choose only crisp, fresh sprouts; never buy any that are slimy (as if you would, anyway.)

You may be better to sprout your own at home, but the FDA has found that often the contamination problem did not originate at the commercial grower’s facilities, but rather at the facilities where the seeds were produced and packaged.

Cooking Tips

Wash thoroughly under running water; pat dry in paper towel. Do wash them even if they look clean and came in a plastic box; you are washing them to help get any bacteria off them. (Though the FDA advises that to really neutralize bacteria, you’d have to soak them in a chlorine solution so strong that the sprouts would be truly safe indeed — they’d be so unpalatable that you wouldn’t want to eat them afterward at all.)

Substitutes

Buckwheat, fenugreek or other sprouts.

Nutrition

Rich in anti-oxidants.

Equivalents

8 oz = 225g = 3 cups

Storage Hints

Keep refrigerated.