grow sunflowers? How to harvest and roast the sunflower seeds from your sunflowers.
Looking out my living room window one afternoon I saw the strangest sight, a squirrel about 8 feet off the ground, upside down, with its tail just sticking up in the air.
As I quietly came closer to investigate, I found that the squirrel had climbed onto one of my large sunflower plants, the top of which was now greedily bending over into the sunflower blossom due to the weight of the squirrel, who was clutching the plant stem with its hind legs to eat the ripening seeds.
But that got me thinking, why leave all those sunflower seeds to the squirrels? The variety of sunflower that the squirrel enjoyed produces small seeds, too small for me to bother with.
But I’ve had other sunflowers, the mammoth variety that produces big seeds, the kind that can be roasted easily.
By the time I got there, the squirrels and birds had already eaten all the seeds from every flower but one. The seeds were clearly visible, I pulled one out to check if the size was big enough, broke it open and ate the raw seed inside. Perfect!
Then I put the flower head on a table (it’s pretty messy outside) and rubbed out as many of the large seeds as I could. This would be a fun activity for kids if you are growing large sunflowers in your garden.
The question you might have, and I certainly had, is, is there a way to easily peel the seeds so you don’t have to go through the tedious process yourself for each nibble?
There is, but it requires expensive commercial machines. Oh well. The good news is that these seeds in the shell are hard to overeat! You have to work for it.
How to harvest and roast (in the shell) sunflower seeds
When you grow your own sunflowers, the flowers will tell you when they are ready. They will droop and the petals around the center will have dried. The seeds should be clearly visible.
The best seeds to eat come from the larger sunflower varieties.
Simply cut the flower head off the stem, place the flower head on a flat surface and rub the center to loosen the seeds from the flower. If squirrels and birds can get to these seeds, so can you!
These instructions are for salted, roasted sunflower seeds. If you don’t want them salted, just rinse and toast them. Because they’re not soaked in water, they’ll roast much faster, maybe just a few minutes at 400°F.
*Add more or less salt to taste, up to 1/4 cup kosher salt for 1 liter of water.
ingredients
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1 Cup raw sunflower seeds in shell
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2 1/2 tablespoon kosher saltor 2 tablespoons table salt*
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1 quart water
method
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Boil sunflower seeds in salted water:
Place sunflower seeds, salt, and water in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes.
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Spread the seeds on a baking sheet and roast:
Drain the water from the seeds and spread the seeds out in a single layer in a sheet pan. Place in an oven at 400°F on the top rack and roast for 10 to 15 minutes.
Starting at around 10 minutes, I recommend taking a few out of the oven to test. If they are not already roasted to your satisfaction, return them to the oven for an additional 2 to 5 minutes.
Check every few minutes until dry enough and toasted to your satisfaction.
Seeds can quickly go from done (dry and easy to chew) to charred (brown on the outside and black on the inside). So as the time approaches, keep an eye on it.
Links:
Mission Impossible Squirrel
Roast your own sunflower seeds
Roasted Pumpkin Seeds
| nutritional information (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 175 | calories |
| 16g | Fat |
| 5g | carbohydrates |
| 6g | protein |
