Three things you must know before buying bean sprouts, shared by Dr. Lin Bixia

With food safety issues frequently reported lately, tainted bean sprouts from across the strait have also drawn international attention. Greenvine conducted a special interview with Dr. Lin Bixia and compiled three key points, so that you can tell safe bean sprouts apart from tainted ones treated with root-killing agents and growth hormones just by their appearance. That way, your table will have only pure, natural, healthy bean sprouts with no artificial additives.

Here is Dr. Lin's sharing with everyone: the three key points for choosing safe bean sprouts:

Having roots is the most natural and original form of bean sprouts

What is commonly called bean sprouts is produced by sprouting beans such as mung beans, black beans and soybeans. When all seeds germinate, they first start by growing roots. Having roots is not only a symbol of the vitality of bean sprouts, but also the most original form of sprouts, so the first thing to look at when choosing bean sprouts is whether they have roots. Rootless bean sprouts on the general market fall into two situations. One is the so-called "silver sprouts", whose roots are cut off before being packaged and put on the shelf; the cut areas turn dark brown and yellowish, and not only does the vitality of the sprouts themselves decline, but the nutrients are also lost along the way, which is a great pity. The other kind appears to have almost no roots, with root development that is very inconspicuous; these sprouts were very likely treated with a root-killing agent during cultivation so that the roots could not grow out. Neither kind is recommended for consumption.

Bean sprouts that look white, tender and plump are best eaten less

Besides checking whether they have roots, the sprout body is also a criterion for selection. The bean sprouts that generally have good "market appeal" mostly have straight, plump sprout bodies and a very glossy white appearance, but these are very likely the result of adding growth hormones, the industrial-grade bleaching agent "sodium dithionite" (commonly known as insurance powder) and other chemical fertilizers. Bean sprouts that truly rely only on the nutrients in the seed and water, growing roots downward and sprouting upward, not only have thinner stems, but also show a natural light brown color. People who have sprouted mung bean sprouts at home are often puzzled or frustrated, feeling that compared with what they buy at the market, their own sprouts are just "uglier", but this "ugliness" is exactly how bean sprouts are supposed to look.

If you want to eat sprouts, you should eat sprouts in their truest form

Mung bean sprouts, as well as broccoli seedlings, purple cabbage seedlings and many other sprouts, not only contain rich phytonutrients, enzymes and other nutritional essentials, but even more precious is the life energy in the germination process - the process of continuously converting the seed's nutrients into small-molecule nutrients that are easy to absorb and use. So, if you want to eat sprouts, you should eat sprouts in their truest form, eating fresh, living sprouts whose roots, sprout bodies and seed coats are completely preserved and rich in vitality, and take in the healthiest, most healing natural nutrition from such sprouts.

"Many customers, after trying them, tell us that these are the real mung bean sprouts. It is actually rather funny to say, that it is just a simple plate of bean sprouts. But if you have a chance to visit a vegetable market, you will find that such a simple thing is very hard to find. I think this is also the reason Greenvine has always worked hard to persist in being foolish, because if we do not do it, perhaps no one will. Dr. Lin Bixia once told us: 'Someone still has to do the unwise things.' After growing vegetables at Greenvine for several years, I think we understand the meaning of these words more and more."
Greenvine co-founder - Hsu Wei-che

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