Bean sprouts
Cheap, raw and mostly water. The only thing to think about is hygiene.
How to use it
Raw over a salad, or stirred into a hot dish at the last moment. Blanch them if you are unsure where they came from.
The best version
Grown yourself from mung beans, or fresh from a chiller in a shop that sells through quickly. Crisp and white, not limp or browning at the tips.
How to prepare it
Rinse under running water. If you do not grow them yourself and you are in a risk group, cook them briefly: that costs you the crunch and takes out the risk.
What it does
The point of bean sprouts is not one compound but the price per kilo of something raw and fresh. No trial has tested them on their own, and that is here because it is true.
Watch out
Sprouts carry the highest contamination risk of any vegetable, because they grow warm and wet and are eaten raw. In a survey of 298 shop-bought samples, E. coli was found in 14.8 percent, a Listeria species in 12.3 percent and Listeria monocytogenes in 1.3 percent. Salmonella was not found.
If you are pregnant, older, or immunocompromised, do not eat them raw. This is the only vegetable on this page where that applies.