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Wheat Sprouts and Wheatgrass as Survival Foods, by SF in Hawaii
One of the problems with stored food is the inevitable deterioration
of the vitamin content. You don't have to worry about the mineral
content going anywhere but vitamins are notoriously fragile. While
many have asked for the best kind of multi-vitamin supplement for
long term storage, the answer for the survival community is simpler.
Many of us have buckets of wheat stored. So make wheat sprouts
and wheatgrass juice.
Vitamins increase substantially during the sprouting process. In
regards to wheat, vitamin B-12 quadruples, other B vitamins increase
from 3
to 12 times and the vitamin E content triples. Vitamins A, K and
others also increase. Amino acid levels (the building blocks of
proteins)
similarly increase and fiber content increases three to four times
that of whole wheat bread.
Dry seeds, grains, and legumes are rich in protein and complex carbohydrates
but contain no vitamin C. Fortunately, the sprouting process creates
20 milligrams of Vitamin C per 3.5 ounces of wheat.
Sprouts can be eaten in as little as 48 hours after soaking (and
rinsing). No light is required for the first few days and at this
stage, they
are more grain than vegetable. Over time (and with light) chlorophyll
begins to form and they transition from grain to vegetable. Eating
them takes a bit of getting used to. Young sprouts can be eaten whole
and are very chewy, and sweet. No cooking needed. They are an excellent
G.O.O.D. food for your survival pack. All you need is a glass mason
jar and a mesh cap. Go to your local health food store and ask for
the plastic ventilated tops that fit over mason jars for sprouting.
If you want to decrease the weight, put them in a stocking or plastic
paint strainer mesh (available at your hardware store) and then into
a plastic wide mouth bottle. As you travel, the wheat will convert
into chewy nutritious little snacks. In terms of travel, if you think
that you will have access to water (hiking near a river or other
other water source) but no cooking fuel (wintertime and it's wet)
then this is an excellent option.
They sprout while you hike. If a member of the party has dental problems,
make a mortar and pestle from two rocks and crush the sprouts before
eating them. Remember,
we don't
manufacture cellulose, the enzyme that other animals have to break
down plant fiber. If you don't cook or juice your vegetable, you must
chew (or crush) them to get anything out of them.
Here is a list of other seeds/grains/beans you can sprout as well
as how to sprout in a jar.
If you have the time and inclination, you can go from the sprout
stage to the grass stage. Again, this shifts the wheat from grain
to vegetable.
This will change the relative protein, carbohydrate and vitamin composition
so I suggest you use your powers of observation. If you crave the
sprouts at one growing stage versus another, honor it. It's your
body telling
you that given your current state of malnutrition, that stage of
the sprout you are craving contains the maximum amount of what you
need.
Wheatgrass juice is a little sweet and many will get nauseous even
if they drink only an ounce at a time. It is very potent stuff, but
not dangerous.
Here
is a link for sprouting to the grass stage including techniques
to sprout without soil or trays (you can even use a baby blanket):
Be mindful that when going for the grass stage, hygiene is everything.
You must start with clean grain or mold will grow on them.
Wheatgrass juice can be chewed but this is very labor
intensive. Ann Wigmore who made wheatgrass juice famous ate grass from
her lawn
with
her grandmother during the war in Germany and attributes it to her
and her Grandmother not starving to death. I think that a wheatgrass
juicer is a very sound investment, as important as any other in my
survival kitchen. No, a regular juicer will not work. You will need
a wheatgrass juicer. With it you can also juice other leafy greens
if you like. Manual wheatgrass juicers are not overly expensive unless
you want to go stainless steel but they all work pretty much the
same way. [JWR Adds: Used wheatgrass juicers can
sometimes be found on eBay for
very reasonable prices.]
If you have wheat then you have bread and vegetables if you know
how to juice. In the summer months, if you have grass growing nearby
and
it hasn't been sprayed with pesticides and other lawn chemicals you
have a garden you may not have been aware of. While not all grasses
are necessarily safe to eat, you can experiment with a drop at a
time. As with all suspect plant life, first put a drop on your skin
and see
if it gets irritated over the next few hours. If that works, next
put a drop under your tongue and spit it out. Was it bitter or soapy
or
was there a milky sap? (A survival botanist who wants to elucidate/correct
this would be appreciated.) If not and if you feel okay after another
few hours, next try to drink a drop. With some experimentation you
may be able to determine if the grass varieties growing wild in your
local meadow are safe for consumption.
While many other sprouts are also useful and certainly more tasty
and easier to manage (mung, buckwheat, adzuki) wheat is something
that
anyone reading this blog is likely to have in abundance. You can,
however, sprout any grain or bean too increase it's vitamin content.
Also, sprouting
does not mean you must eat it raw. You can sprout your beans and
grains and then still cook with them. The chinese do this with mung
beans
in their cooking. You will lose some of the vitamin content by cooking
them but you will still end up with a meal many times higher in vitamin
content than otherwise. - SF in Hawaii
