China's working people in the long-term production practice, has long recognized that some plants (seeds) buds and young organs can be eaten. And this type of food with "buds", "brain", "head", "tip", "tip" and other names to indicate its quality of tender, crisp, nutritious and other characteristics. This shows that previous generations have provided a general category for sprouts vegetables. Folk also have some of the buds of vegetables agreed to call, such as folk food "willow buds", that is, willow branches in the spring sprouted shoots. "Buddha's hand melon tip" that is Buddha's hand melon seedlings young tips, "chrysanthemum brain" that is a perennial plant in the Asteraceae family of roots in the spring sprouted young shoots of young leaves. "Brain" in the meaning of the word also has the meaning of the essence of things. 1957 publication of the "Chinese vegetable cultivation" (Wu Kengmin) on the sprouts for the expansion of Brussels sprouts, Brussels sprouts is defined as "so that beans or radish, buckwheat, and other seeds sprouting and elongation and vegetables, so the name Brussels sprouts". And pointed out: Brussels sprouts use the nutrients stored in the seeds, do not have to apply fertilizers, and generally do not have to be sown in the soil (also sown in sand or soil) can be soft cultivation in low light. In addition to the traditional sprouting of bean seeds, the above definition also includes the sprouting of vegetable seeds, radish and crop seeds, buckwheat.
Chinese sprout production technology was introduced to Japan in the Edo period, but the types have been limited to soybean sprouts, mung bean sprouts and a few other varieties. Japan's "wild vegetable garden rue great classic" on the definition of sprouts is "sprouts are beans and buckwheat and other seeds in the dark germination of the product" (Tamura Mao 1977). This definition is basically similar to the one annotated by Wu Kengmin (1957).
The Japanese book "Softening-Sprouting Wild Vegetables" (Shigeichi Nishigaki), published in 1982, discusses sprouts as follows, "Cultivated in greenhouse cultivation beds, densely sown, with proper temperature and humidity to ensure germination, soft, juicy young shoots and leaves of the plant are produced as a commercial product." This discussion extends the scope of sprouts to the young organs of the plant, very similar to our traditional designation of sprouts - the concept of buds, heads, tips, tips and brains.
The Chinese Encyclopedia of Agriculture-Vegetable Volume came out in 1990. The volume defines sprouts as "young sprouts cultivated from the shade (or no shade) germination of seeds of beans, radishes, alfalfa, etc." And sprouts are included in the 15 categories of vegetables classified according to agro-biology, this definition exemplifies other sprouts such as alfalfa sprouts, enriching the types of sprouts, but still limiting the scope of sprouts to young sprouts germinated from seeds, failing to include sprouts such as tips, tips, heads, and brains generated by plant nutrient organs.
In 1994, the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Vegetable and Flower Research Institute of sprout vegetables research group in the previous definition on the basis of the definition of sprouts to give the appropriate expansion of the definition of sprouts, revised to read: "Where the use of plant seeds or other nutrient storage organs, in the dark or under the conditions of the light directly out of edible buds, sprouts, buds, buds, buds, tips or stems are young can be called sprouted vegetables, referred to as sprouts or sprouts."
The expanded definition of sprouts redefines the scope of sprouts, clarifies the status of sprouts in vegetable classification, standardizes the types of sprouts, and improves the classification system of vegetables, which is of guiding significance for the development of future scientific research on sprouts and the production of sprouts.