Product Review: Sprouted Grains

Yo, so I'm moving again. Which means little time for creative food ventures. Also, my awesome Droid phone died. Which means I can't take any pictures of said ventures. Not having a phone is kind of like being on vacation, but instead of being somewhere awesome, I'm still sitting in a cubicle at work. I will say that I enjoy the complete lack of attachement and anxiety that comes with a phone. (Did I get a text message? Did I call that person back? Why didn't he call me last night? Why won't the post office supervisor pick up his phone?!?)

Until I get a new phone, I have to share a discovery I made.

So, I'm shopping for a quick meal item -pasta- in the whole hippy section of Giant, and I come across what might be the headiest of all heady pastas. Behold, Whole Sprouted Grain Pasta from "Food for Life". The ingredients are as follows: Organic Sprouted Whole Wheat, Millet, Barley, Lentils, Sobeans, and Spelt. They're ALL 'organic, sprouted, and whole'. What does that even mean? I was pretty clueless until I went to their website. I'm not even going to kindof try to paraphrase it, so here's a direct quote

Sprouting is the only way to release all the vital nutrients stored in whole grains. The sprouting process activates beneficial enzymes which cause the grains to sprout and become living and nutrient-rich. Stores of vitamins and minerals dramatically increase over the amount available in flour. Sprouting also converts the carbohydrates in grains into maltose, which is ordinarily done by the body during digestion, thereby predigesting nutrients for you. The enzymatic action enables the body to assimilate the vitamins and minerals more efficiently. Plus, the sprouting process naturally increases the protein content and decreases the calories and carbohydrates found in the original grain.

Hmm, predigestion? I haven't even formulated any opinions on this craziness yet.

Other things you should know about "Food for Life": they categorize their foods by bible versus which inspired each product. For example, the pasta has written on it "Ezekiel 4:9".

Upon desiring to eat this strange new food, I read that it cooks in 4 1/2 minutes (instead of 8-12), and grows to 100% it's original size once cooked. WHAT? Behold, GOD PASTA.

My review? Well, being a full blooded Italian, I'm a little picky with my pasta. It didn't quite have the 'al dente' effect, and was a bit more mushy than expected. But not in a 'this pasta has been overcooked and sitting in a hot tray in the lunch line for 2 hours' way. More like a 'I'm eating a crapload of whole grains and it's kinda chewy' way. Other than that, it had amazing flavor and was really filling. I ate one small serving of it with vegetable pasta sauce, but then went back for seconds eating it only with olive oil and parmesan cheese, which tasted SO good.

So, if you're looking to push the envelope on whole grains, I recommend Food for Life.