Bean Sprouts!

First off, I know that the number of posts this week has been higher than it has been in quite a while - things are in season and I am keeping busy. Secondly, I read an interesting article this afternoon. Less than 5% of the U.S.A.'s food economy is local based (defined as within 400 miles). Think about that - on average 95% of the food you consume has traveled more than 400 miles with preservatives and the farmers have to sell their crops for less so that they can keep the farms open. The thought is somewhat disturbing to me, I don't know about you. I love that the food I am blogging about, which may constitute ~25% or more of our diet (at least during the peak months this year) is local - usually within 50-100 miles. The food is fresher and, I think, tastier.

Anyways, the Dekalb Farmer's Market allows us to find some produce that is local - usually it is just something that says it is from 'Georgia'. They are great in that most everything is either labeled from the country it is from, or for U.S. produce, the state it was grown in.

My wife and I love making stir frys, as evidenced in the posts I made about snow peas. We almost always include bean sprouts. We can't really tell the difference between the fresh ones that we buy and the canned ones in the store. Where we can tell the difference is the price. A small can of bean sprouts costs about a dollar and a half. The market sells them for pretty cheap. Enough for a stir fry costs less than 50 cents. So, after a little research, I realized that I could can some bean sprouts (pressure can) for about 1/5 or less than the canned ones from the store. Secondly, the sprouts from the market almost always go bad after two days (at which point sometimes we haven't gotten to make our stir fry).

Well, we bought bean sprouts yesterday at the market. For $2.11, plus the price of the canning lids (<$2), I made 10 pints of bean sprouts (3.5 pounds of sprouts). I can't wait to try them. All that is in them is bean sprouts (packed full while raw), water (boiling when poured over), and 1/2 tsp of sea salt (recommended amount for green beans).

I'll post with a comment on how they taste soon. Hopefully, this weekend, I'll be able to post a garden update, with pictures. I really need to weed the garden.