Medicago sativa (Alfafa)

Perhaps I should start off be saying that I like sprouts. I am aware that my high opinion of sprouts is not universally held.

Nevetheless, I enjoy sprouts for several reasons. Most notably, I can grow them on my window sill all winter long and obviate (at least partially) the need to buy lettuce flown in from Calfornia or Mexico. I also enjoy the nutty, wholesome flavor that many sprouts have – otherwise I wouldn't eat them, however, environmentally conscious it may be.

For my purposes this year, sprouts have a notable additional virtue: many plant species that are barely edible as adult plants are quite tasty as tender, young sprouts. Medicago sativa (alfalfa) is a textbook example of this.

M. sativa is a herbaceous member of the Fabaceae family, which includes beans and peas. Virtually all alfalfa is cultivated as a forage crop for livestock. Alfalfa is relatively high in protein. The mature plants survive multiple hayings each year and it stores well as hay or silage. Individual alfalfas plants can survive in the field up to 20 years, which saves farmers on seeding. And since alfalfa is a legume it has a benefit shared by other members of the Fabaceae family: when incoulated with diazotrophic bacteria, the plant forms root nodules that adfix atmospheric nitrogen. In other words, growing aflafla actually enriches the soil.

At home, sprouting alfalfa seeds is simple enough. I start off soaking one or two tablespoons of seeds in a water glass for an hour (up to over night). Each morning after breakfast, I thoroughly rinse the sprouts with cold water, drain off as much water as possible and return them to the same glass. Within 5 to 7 days, I've got a nice little crop of sprouts.

While they are one of the most recognizable species of sprouts, I do have to say that alfalfa is not my favorite. (That honor goes to red clover, another forage crop). However, alfalfa is one of the easiest species of plants to sprout. I can't recall ever having had a batch of alfalfa go bad on me – something I can't say about larger seeds such as lentils or mung beans.

In the winter, I mostly use sprouts as a subsititute for lettuce on my sandwichs. Today's sandwich: alfalfa sprouts with onions slices mustard and herring filets on whole wheat bread.

Really, it's better than it sounds.