Roasting Sunflower Seeds
Tips on Roasting Sunflower Seeds
One of the perks of cultivating sunflowers is roasting sunflower seeds to make a great tasting and nutritious snack. Roasting sunflower seeds is really not hard at all. You can prepare them salted or without salt, just the way they came from the sunflower plant.
Before you can begin roasting sunflower seeds, you will need to learn how to harvest the seeds. The seeds must be mature and there are several ways of checking to make sure they are ready to harvest. For instance, the yellow flowers will be gone by and the petals will have dried up and fallen to the ground. The heads of the sunflowers will be heavy and the seeds will look fat, plus you will be able to see that they are black and white striped. The color of the back of the sunflower will be brown. Don’t wait too long as you don’t want the seeds to dry so much that they start falling on the ground.
You also have to be careful that the birds don’t eat them all--another reason to harvest as soon as you can. Some people cover the heads of the sunflower plants with paper bags to keep the birds out. You can also trying picking the sunflowers as soon as the backs of the heads have turned yellow. With this option you need to cut the head off with at least one foot of stem attached and hang somewhere dry, such as in a garage or barn until the seeds are ready to harvest.
All it takes to harvest the sunflower seeds is to rub two heads together--the seeds will fall out. You can also accomplish the same thing by rubbing the sunflower head with your hand. If you are going to use your sunflower seeds to feed the birds, keep them in containers with lids in a place where they will remain as dry as possible.
If your are interested in roasting sunflower seeds, here’s how: Remove the shells from the sunflower seeds. Put the unshelled seeds in a pot with salt water on the stove. For each two quarts of sunflower seeds, you should use one-fourth to one-half cup of salt. Bring the seeds and salt water to a boil and then let simmer in the pot for two hours. If you like you can also soak the seeds overnight in the salt water. Next drain out the water and place seeds on paper towels to dry.
Place the sunflower seeds in a pan that’s shallow and roast in the oven at 300 degrees for thirty to forty minutes. Stir them occasionally. Seeds are roasted when they turn golden brown. If you are watching your sodium intake, you can just skip the boiling in salt water portion and start at the point they are placed in the oven to roast. When they are roasted, remove from the oven. Add one teaspoon of melted margarine for every cup of sunflower seeds. Place on a paper towel to cool. Airtight containers are not good for sunflower seeds as the seeds will mold. The best storage method is in a cloth bag that has air circulation.
Using the method above for roasting sunflower seeds, your final product will have approximately 200 calories per one-fourth cup. Sunflower seeds are a healthy snack and can provide you with calcium, potassium, and phosphorus, among other vitamins and minerals.