Christmas Gift Ideas for the Kitchen: Give a Gift That Grows, Seeds to Sprout
In mid-January, when the other presents are gathering dust at the back of a cupboard, this one is still growing on the kitchen counter. Here at Biovie, my pick among Christmas gift ideas for the kitchen fits in a recycled jar: a mix of seeds to sprout and a handwritten set of instructions. For under €20, the first sprouts are ready to harvest three to five days after soaking.
Why give a gift that grows?
Who doesn't have a pasta machine at the back of a cupboard, used twice and then forgotten? Kitchen gifts have a knack for ending up on the top shelf. A gift that grows does the opposite: you eat it, it renews itself, and all it leaves behind is a clean jar, ready to be used again.
For me it is the best of the Christmas gift ideas for the kitchen when you are shopping for someone who already has everything, and an original gift for cooking at Christmas that requires no particular talent.
This taste for simplicity is nothing new. I have been sprouting seeds for more than thirty years, and it was as a student at ISTOM that it became a necessity: my room had no kitchen, the university canteen offered no vegetarian option, so I took up sprouting in a big way, to get something fresh. You really can start with next to nothing.
And then there is the jar. You reuse the one already sitting in your kitchen, you only buy the seeds, and the sprouts end up on a winter salad, as part of a varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle. The jar stays, and will be used again for the next batch. If this frugal spirit speaks to you, here are more low-tech gift ideas.
Christmas gift ideas for the kitchen: gifts that grow, by budget
For an original kitchen gift idea for Christmas, here is how I would go about it, budget by budget (the soaking and harvest times quoted come from the product sheets of our mixes):
Under €10: the raw food recipe e-book.
€10 to €20: a starter mix, Mix Andante or Mix Adagio.
E-book « Cuisine Vivante pour Une Santé Optimale » (PDF)
€4.95
€10 to €20
Mix Andante, 400 g
€11.87
€10 to €20
Mix Adagio, 350 g
€15.90
€10 to €20 (for someone with some experience)
Mix Allegro, 350 g
€18.80
€20 to €50
Trio Andante + Adagio + Allegro
€46.57 (sum of the three prices)
Under €10
The e-book « Cuisine Vivante pour Une Santé Optimale » costs €4.95: a PDF in French with more than 150 raw recipes, enough to try a different recipe every day for five months. It says nothing about sprouting: it is a cookbook, and it answers the question that inevitably comes up, what do I do with all these sprouts?
I am particularly fond of this book, and not only for its recipes. To raise the money needed to publish its French translation, I became a reseller of EasyGreen sprouters, and Biovie was born from that, in 2007. A funny way to start a company. A card with the download link, placed on a recycled jar, already makes a complete gift.
€10 to €20
My favourite bracket for getting started. The Mix Andante (mung bean, alfalfa, radish, 400 g, €11.87) is the easiest of our mixes, the one I would put in the hands of someone who has never seen a seed sprout: 8 hours of soaking, then harvest in 3 to 5 days. The Mix Adagio (broccoli 20%, Chinese rose radish 50%, clover 30%, 350 g, €15.90) follows the same rhythm, with a spicier flavour. Seeds put to soak on a Saturday evening are on the plate between Wednesday and Friday.
The trio of the three mixes comes to €46.57, and it is a real progression: your loved one starts with the Andante or the Adagio, then moves on to the Mix Allegro (leek, cress, rocket, alfalfa, €18.80) once they have got the hang of it. I keep the Allegro for someone who already has some experience, because cress and rocket form a mucilage that takes a bit of know-how.
Another formula I like: the Mix Adagio with the e-book. And for a curious friend or relative who wants other flavours, our guide to cooking with seaweed opens a completely different door, on the sea side this time.
What works from the very first week
A dry seed is a packed suitcase for a long journey: everything is stowed away, tightly, nothing moves. Soaking opens the suitcase, and the seed starts to sprout over the following days. For a sprouting seed gift set aimed at a beginner, this quick start matters a lot: you see the jar change from one day to the next, and it makes you want to carry on.
The routine, as I would explain it to a friend dropping by the kitchen:
In the evening, soak the seeds for 8 hours in fresh water.
In the morning, pour off the water and let the jar drain upside down, slightly tilted.
Then rinse twice a day.
Harvest after 3 to 5 days for the Andante and the Adagio, after 5 days for the Allegro.
This rinsing twice a day, until harvest, is also what the Government of Quebec recommends for home sprouting.
For the Allegro, one tip helps a lot. Cress and rocket form a mucilage around the seed, a sort of gel, and do better on a substrate, sown not too densely.
Should you give a sprouter as a gift, then? Not necessarily, and I say so even though we have been selling them since our beginnings: a jar is enough for the first week. To go further, the list of seeds you can sprout gives you ideas, and a 10-minute daily routine is enough to keep up the rhythm.
Putting together a homemade jar gift set
The homemade set is the simplest of the Christmas gift ideas for the kitchen on this list, and the budget-friendly gourmet gift par excellence: everything is already in your cupboards, except the seeds. Allow ten minutes, ribbon included.
Take a glass jar lying around the house (jam jar, gherkin jar, it doesn't matter), clean and quite dry, and slip the bag of mix inside. A ribbon around the neck, and you're done. The handwritten label is what gives the set its charm: "Soak 8 h, rinse twice a day, harvest in 3 to 5 days". As an option, add the e-book, printed or as a card with its link.
No unnecessary purchase, neither sprouter nor special lid: that is the whole spirit of this gift. It is also a lovely idea among Christmas gift ideas for kitchen lovers, who will enjoy inventing what comes next, from a winter salad to a rice bowl topped with crunchy sprouts. Nothing stops you from preparing two, an Andante for someone discovering sprouting, an Adagio for someone who likes a bit of bite.
Biovie offers 24 varieties of organic sprouting seeds, produced since 1896 by our Italian supplier Geo Bavicchi, and every batch is tested before it goes on sale (germination rate above 95% required). Radish, fenugreek, sunflower and alfalfa sprout the fastest and most easily for beginners, in 3 to 5 days on a windowsill. To discover several varieties without making a mistake, the packs (The 3 Radishes, The Essentials, The Pep's Seeds...) are a good starting point, before choosing your varieties individually. The range also covers microgreen seeds to grow on a substrate, and sprouters to get started without unnecessary equipment., 46
products
A jar of sprouting seeds is a small tropical greenhouse on the kitchen counter: it is warm, it is humid, and everyone feels at home. What suits the seeds also suits bacteria, and that is the whole point of hygiene habits. I would rather talk about it openly than pretend the question doesn't exist.
According to the scientific opinion of EFSA (European Food Safety Authority, 2011), the most likely source of contamination is the dry seed itself; salmonella is most often involved, Shiga toxin-producing E. coli (STEC) less often. Hence the importance of buying seeds sold for sprouting, not garden seeds, some of which are coated with pesticides (Government of Quebec).
And this is not theoretical. In 2011, in Germany, an E. coli O104:H4 outbreak affected 3,816 people, 54 of whom died; 845 developed haemolytic uraemic syndrome, or 22% of cases (Buchholz et al., 2011). More than one patient in five. Sprouted seeds were the most likely vehicle, even though the strain was not found on the seeds of the suspect batch: I say so out of honesty, not to play it down.
Since 2013, European regulations require producers of sprouted seeds to show the absence of six STEC serogroups in 25 g, a small handful of sprouts, with checks at least monthly (European Commission, 2013). That is serious, and good. These rules do not apply to sprouting at home: at home, it is your habits that count.
Here they are, according to the Government of Quebec:
two rinses a day during sprouting;
a last rinse at harvest;
then the fridge, and eating them within the week;
if the sprouts turn black or smell musty, throw them away, without regret and without hesitation.
Nothing complicated really: water that flows, never water that stagnates, like rain running down a bank rather than the puddle that stagnates at its foot.
Raw or undercooked sprouted seeds are not recommended for children aged 5 and under, pregnant women, adults aged 60 and over and people with weakened immune systems (Government of Quebec).
Think about it before giving the jar; for everyone else, young sprouts have their place on the plate, as part of a varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle.
Storing dry seeds and sprouts
Dry seeds, for their part, are patient. They keep in a dry place, away from light. On our mixes, the best-before date is 3 years after production. Enough to see several Christmases come and go.
At Biovie, we recommend vacuum sealing in a glass jar with the complete BocUp kit: a bell and a small hand pump, with no electricity and no plastic bag, which fits the jars you already have, if they have "shoulders" and a lid of 65 or 84 mm. It is reuse: nothing else to buy, and the seeds stay protected from humidity and moths.
According to the manufacturer, fresh produce keeps up to 5 times longer: a vegetable soup lasts 8 to 10 days instead of 2, enough to enjoy it at the end of the week. Be careful, though, not to credit it with powers it doesn't have. Vacuum does not replace the fridge or the freezer, and it does not sterilise. Harvested sprouts stay in the fridge and are eaten within the week (Government of Quebec). See also the advantages of vacuum sealing at home.
How late can you order to have it for Christmas?
I am not setting a deadline here. It depends on stock and on end-of-year logistics, and I would rather promise you nothing I could not keep. The safest course is to order early and check the stock on the product page.
No need to panic, though. If you are late, the homemade set can be prepared in 10 minutes, and the e-book arrives by e-mail as a PDF after the order. The last-minute gift that doesn't look like one, in short.
I like the idea that, on 1 January, someone is rinsing their jar before they have even put away the Christmas lights. A few more young sprouts on the plate, as part of a varied and balanced diet and a healthy lifestyle, and a habit that gets started, each at their own pace. If you give a jar this year, write to me and tell me how it was received!
Frequently asked questions
Which seeds should I give to a beginner?
Mix Andante or Mix Adagio are the simplest to start with. Both need 8 hours of soaking, then harvest comes in 3 to 5 days, according to our product sheets. Mix Allegro, which contains cress and rocket, suits a loved one who has already sprouted seeds better.
Do you need a sprouter to sprout seeds?
No, a simple glass jar is enough to begin with: you soak the seeds, then rinse them twice a day until harvest. The automatic sprouter comes later, if the enthusiasm lasts and consumption grows. Our article on choosing a sprouter compares the options when the time comes.
How long do sprouted seeds keep?
Sprouted seeds keep in the fridge and are eaten within the week following harvest, according to the recommendations of the Government of Quebec. Rinse them at harvest and throw them away if they turn black or smell musty. Dry seeds, for their part, keep much longer in a dry place.
Are raw sprouted seeds suitable for everyone?
No, raw or undercooked sprouted seeds are not recommended for children aged 5 and under, pregnant women, adults aged 60 and over and people with weakened immune systems, according to the Government of Quebec. For everyone else, choose seeds sold for sprouting and rinse them twice a day.
How late can you order for Christmas?
The safest course is to order now and check the stock on the product page, as we cannot guarantee availability at the end of the year. If you are late, the homemade set can be prepared in 10 minutes, and the PDF e-book arrives by e-mail after the order.
What original gift can you give someone who loves cooking?
A gift that grows: a mix of seeds to sprout, slipped into a recycled glass jar, with handwritten instructions. They harvest their first young sprouts in 3 to 5 days and add them to their salads or dishes, for under €20.
The information presented in this article is provided for information purposes only and does not constitute medical advice. Consult a healthcare professional before making any change to your diet or supplementation.
