Story by Grace Fick, 2021
Bean sprouts have always been a staple in almost all of my dishes growing up. Bean sprouts, also known as mung bean sprouts, are usually grown in high humidity, low sunlight areas. These are mostly used in Eastern and Southeastern Asia and are used in a myriad of ways in the kitchen. For example, they are used as garnishes in many soup dishes such as Phở or Khao Piak, which are common Vietnamese and Laotian cuisine. Growing up in a Vietnamese and Laotian household, bean sprouts came in all shapes and sizes and appeared all throughout my house. When my grandmother or mother would make my favorite soup, Phở, I would reach and grab as much bean sprouts as my little hand could fit and mix it into my soup. With the addition of these sprouts, there was a crunch with every spoonful. Along with soups, bean sprouts can appear in noodle dishes such as Vietnamese noodle salad or different types of stir-fried noodles. They don’t have much nutritional sustenance or much flavor, but I always liked the satisfying crunch it gave with every bite.
As a little girl, I would accompany my mother and grandmother to any local Asian store and every single time, I always saw one of them reach into a big plastic bag to get out a bag full of fresh bean sprouts. However, I always wondered if it could be grown at our own home. My family and I use bean sprouts pretty regularly, so my mom and I took it upon ourselves to try and grow bean sprouts at home. Because my mother and I had never attempted to grow anything like this before, we took to the internet to find some fascinating information about its growing patterns, needs and more. From here, we discovered that we can take the curved part of the bean sprouts, or mung beans, and place them in a moist environment with little to no sunlight and boom, bean sprouts will grow. This method can also be replicated with mung bean seeds as well. So, my mom took some stems of the bean sprouts, placed them in a bowl, with a damp towel placed over it, along with a plastic bag wrapped around it. This would help create a damp and high humidity environment, which is ideal for them to grow in. During the morning, afternoon and evening, we would lightly pour water around the bowl, nourishing the baby bean sprouts and then wrap it back up and place it in our pantry. After about a few weeks of this, we would have bean sprouts that are ready to use in our dishes and we didn’t even need to spend money on them.
Ever since my mom and I learned this technique a couple years ago, we haven’t bought bean sprouts since. It has always been so interesting to me how the produce and fruits we buy and consume at grocery stores can be grown right in our own homes. With this in mind, this is a sustainable practice that I hope to continue with my mother and future generations as it helps me not only learn more growing techniques, but also get in touch with my own heritage. Moreover, it opens up conversations about the practices that my mother, grandmother and their ancestors cultivated crops before immigrating to the United States.