Help your students learn more about pulses with the educational activities and classroom curriculum.
Learn with Pulses:
Comic Books:
STEM Based Pulse Curriculum
Science Experiment: Grow your own lentil sprouts
A garden in a jar can give you crisp lentil sprouts for your hamburger or salad in 4 to 5 days. You will need a quart jar with a wide mouth, a square of cheesecloth, a rubber band and a quarter cup of lentils.
- Wash quarter cup of lentils in a colander or strainer. Put in a washed wide mouth quart jar. Add 2 cups of lukewarm water. Fasten the cheesecloth over the top with a rubber band. Let stand overnight.
- Drain off water. Turn jar upside down until all the water is drained out.
- Hold jar on its side. Shake it so that the lentils are scattered along one side of the jar. Lay the jar (on its side) in a dark place like a cupboard or closet. This will give you light-colored sprouts. If you put the jar in a warm and light (but not sunny) spot, the sprouts will grow little green leaves.
- Each morning put the jar under the sink faucet and let lukewarm water run into it. Leave the cloth cover on. Stand the jar upside down until every bit of the water is drained out. Shake so that the sprouting lentils lie along one side. Return to the spot you have selected.
- Watch it! Every day your little garden will look different. In about 4 days, the sprouts will be about 1 or 1 ¼ inches long and will nearly fill the jar. If you want the sprouts to have little green leaves, put the jar in a sunny window.
- Take off the cheesecloth. Put on the jar’s cap. Keep in the refrigerator. The sprouts taste best when they are eaten within a week.
With the leftover lentils, you can make more sprouts or help your parents make tasty chili.