Salad Sprouting in Victorio Sprouters for Keto * Low-Carb

Victorio sprouter in use.

If you are low income you may find our Keto * Low-Carb way kind of expensive— all those meats and fresh salad greens to buy. But the sprouting habit helps you get healthy salad into your body every day at lower cost— even in winter and without trips to the grocery store.

There are many sprouting tools you can use, but I recommend the Victorio sprouter. It’s neat, and the trays stack. I have a stack of 7 salad sprout trays right now, and have 3 other sprouting trays that I have also stacked— yes, 10 high. And a Victorio set is not that expensive— under $20 for four sprouting trays, a green base and a green topper. If you want salad sprouts every day, though, you probably want at least 2 sets.

My sprouting area is in my kitchen on the top 2 levels of a plastic shelving unit. This is because I have cats, and so far they have left the top 2 levels alone. 

The Victorio comes with a tiny packet of alfalfa seed, and that’s a good seed to start with. Pre-soak 1 to 2 teaspoons (tsp., t.) or 5-10 ml of seed in a lidded canning jar. (I use 1 pint or 1/2 pint size.) You may put some seaweed based fertilizer in with the soak water in the amount recommended by your brand of fertilizer. 

Soak your seed for hours, a day, or even 2 days in stubborn cases (I have some broccoli seed that’s a little old, and so I’m soaking it for 2 days hoping for better sprouting.) Pour it off into your sprouting tray. Be sure and LABEL your sprouting tray with the kind of seed, amount, and date. I used to use freezer tape for labels, but when I had my stroke and was away from home for a few months, the labels left behind residue that doesn’t wash off well. I used canning jar sticky labels which I had on hand, and now am using labels from my Dymo label maker, which I like best of all. (Because I hate my own handwriting even though I used to be a calligrapher and got PAID to do it once.)

Most sprouting seeds take about 7 days to reach eating stage. Some take longer— such as onion or garlic sprouts which take 14 days. Either you can sprout your garlic/onion seeds for 1 week and then add your 7 day salad sprouts. Or you can sprout your garlic/onion separately, or grow it as shoots, and add to your daily salads.

My sprouting shelves. Lower shelf has mung bean
sprouts, protected from light.

SUN FOR SPROUTS: Most salad-type sprouts really need some sunlight in the last few sprouting days. Put them in a sunny window, or in your indoor garden with artificial lights. 

KINDS OF SPROUTS: most commonly we use alfalfa, red clover, radish, broccoli, mustard, arugula or even lentil in our salad sprouts. I like a mix from Todd’s Seeds called Broccoli & Friends which has broccoli, alfalfa, red clover and radish. Very tasty! Though my seed supply is now old and I’m wondering if the broccoli in the mix is sprouting well. I am adding small amounts of black lentil seeds to my daily salad sprout mix. Black lentils are smaller and cuter than standard lentils. Both black and green lentils sprout like the dickens even if you get lentils from the grocery store. I bought ‘365 Everyday Value’ organic black and green lentils online and the black, at least, sprout great for me (I haven’t used the green yet since I still have other green lentils to use up.)

PLANT SAUCERS FOR YOUR VICTORIO SPROUTER: The diameter of a Victorio sprouter tray is 6 inches. Since there is only one base for every 4 trays, I bought some Dbell brand 6 in. plant saucers. Unfortunately they are less than 6 inches and so didn’t work, but they were so nice that I plan to shop for some 6.5 inch or 7 inch plant saucers of the same brand. In that way, I can set out sprout trays to green up without using up all the Victorio bases or leaking water all over the house.  

EATING YOUR SALAD SPROUTS. On our Keto * Low-Carb lifestyle we are entitled to 2 cups of salad daily even on Induction. Be sure and eat your daily salads! You may use low-carb salad dressings if that is what you are used to. I’ve always just added salt to my salads, or sometimes Spike or Mrs Dash seasonings (with or without adding salt.) Sometimes I add a bit of kelp powder or seaweed flakes (I like seaweed.)

SPROUTS THE SUPERFOOD. Sprouts are considered a superfood because they have more nutrients than in the full-grown plant. Often they are lower in carbs than the full-grown plant. Both alfalfa sprouts and mung bean sprouts are specifically mentioned in Atkins books as allowed vegetables.

ARE SPROUTS MICROGREENS? Microgreens are a new term. It seems to mostly mean sprouts that are grown in soil to the sprouting stage. Or some are grown to a larger size, more like shoots. Personally, I call both sprouts and shoots ‘microgreens’ whether they are grown in soil or using a sprout tray or jar and water.

TO LEARN MORE: Be warned: many sprouting advocates are also advocates for an unhealthy vegetarian high-carb diet. They have little science to back it up, so they use emotional appeals or mockery to promote their diet. DON’T GET TAKEN IN! I have a number of books on sprouting. The one I use most is ‘Sprouts: The Miracle Food: The Complete Guide to Sprouting’ by Steve Meyerowitz. I also have ‘Growing and Using Sprouts’ by Richard Helweg and ‘How to Survive with Sprouting’ by Bruford Scott Reynolds.

Have you ever done sprouting? What did you use? How did it work out for you? Are you still sprouting, or planning to try it again? Let us know in a comment!

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