The Sunflower Plant and Seeds Have Many Uses

At archaeological sites in North America, sunflower remains have been found dating from 3,000 B.C., which is earlier than the cultivation of beans, corn, and squash.

Native American Indians roasted and ground sunflower seeds into a fine meal. Ground seeds were boiled and an oil was extracted, which was used for cooking and hair treatment. They also made a beverage similar to coffee from the hulls. and dye from the hulls and petals.

Explorers from Europe had never seen a sunflower plant and sent the seeds back to Europe. The plant was only used as a garden flower and the seeds weren't eaten.

19th century American settlers used the sunflower to treat colds, asthma, sore throats, bronchitis, whooping cough, and tuberculosis. They also planted sunflowers near their homes to ward off malaria. This might have been helpful because the sunflower can soak up great quantities of water, and mosquitoes live and breed in wet areas.

In the U.S. in the 1950s, the sunflower began being used as an important agricultural crop.

The sunflower is an important source of vegetable cooking oil, ranking second among all seed crops in the world.

Sunflowers can remove toxic waste from the environment. Sunflowers absorb toxic metals such as arsenic, zinc, lead, uranium and strontium-90. They have long roots which reach deeply into polluted water and extract toxic metals.

After the 1986 accident at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, floating rafts of sunflowers with their roots dragging in the radioactive water were able to extract 95% of the radioactivity caused by the accident. Read more here

photo by Burntnestnut

~~ Sunflower seeds contain 55% protein

~~ Sunflower seeds have B vitamins, vitamins A and E, calcium, iron, nitrogen, and phosphorus.

~~ Sunflower seeds have 48 calories per tablespoon.

~~ Sunflower seeds have more iron than any other food other than liver and egg yolk.

~~ Raw sunflower kernels have higher levels of nutrients than roasted kernels.

~~ Mature sunflower seed sprouts contain chlorophyll, which helps revitalize tissue and deodorized the body. Chlorophyll is in most commercial breath fresheners.

Photo by Burntchestnut

You can buy organic sunflower seeds to sprout, but you can also make sprouts from your own sunflower plants. Sprouts have more health benefits than in any other point is a plant's life, even more than when it's a mature vegetable.

Harvest your sunflower seeds in late fall when the flower heads are completely dry. The seeds will germinate better if they're stored in a freezer.

There are several ways to sprout seeds; using a wide mouth glass jar, a sprouting bag, or potting soil on a plate.

You can make sunflower seed sprouts with the shells on, although you have to remove the striped shell variety by hand after the seeds have sprouted.

SPROUT SUNFLOWER SEEDS IN A JAR

Use a clear glass jar large enough for the sprouts to grow about 6" tall. Put some seeds in your jar, fill it with water and cover the top with cheesecloth and hold it in place with a rubber band. You can also buy sprouting jars with strainer lids, which are a little easier to use.

Soak the sunflower seeds overnight. Drain the water the next day, rinse the seeds again, and drain the water again. Prop the jar on something so it'll lay at an angle. The mouth of the jar should be lower than the bottom so the water completely drains out. Rinse the seeds 3 times a day, draining the water, and laying the jar on its side. Eat the sprouts when you see tiny green leaves on the ends.

SPROUT SUNFLOWER SEEDS IN A SPROUTING BAG

Put shelled sunflower seeds in a sprouting bag, place it in a bowl, then add water to completely cover the bag. Soak the seeds overnight.

Pull the bag from the water and rinse the bag under a faucet. Drain off the water and hang the bag over a bowl or sink to catch the drips. Rinse and drain the seeds two or three times a day until they're ready to eat.

SPROUT SUNFLOWER SEEDS IN SOIL

Get two glass plates, one larger than the other. Put some organic potting soil on the larger plate, about one inch deep.

Place sunflower seeds that still have their shells in a bowl of water and soak overnight. The next day, drain them and sprinkle the seeds over the soil. Lightly water the soil and place the smaller plate upside down over the larger one.

Lift the top plate each day to see if the soil needs more water. When small sprouts appear, remove the top plate and put the bottom plate in the light, but not in direct sun. Keep the soil warm and moist. When you see leaves begin to form, the sprouts are ready to eat.

Photo by Burntchestnut

Sunflowers need loose soil with good drainage and many days of sunshine. Plant sunflower seeds about a half inch deep with rows about a foot apart. Sunflowers have deep roots, so water the plants deeply.

Sunflowers need lots of room to grow, so pull up some of the seedlings so the plants won't be so crowded. They are drought resistant, but need to be watered about once a week in dry areas. A thick layer of mulch will help keep the ground moist.

Children like to plant sunflowers because they sprout quickly and are so bright and colorful.

When planting sunflowers to attract birds, plant the shorter varieties with so smaller birds can enjoy them.

Sunflowers draw beneficial insects to the garden, so plant them alongside your vegetable and other flowers.

The mammoth sunflowers can reach around 8 feet tall, so don't plant them where they'll shade your other garden plants. These large sunflowers can make a nice border along a fence.

Photo by Burntchestnut

Photo by Burntchestnut.

You can harvest sunflower seeds by covering the seed head with netting or cheesecloth and letting the seeds dry on the plant. The covering prevents birds from eating the seeds.

If you prefer to dry the seeds indoors, cut the mature sunflower head and a foot of the stem off. Hang the stems with the seed head upside down in a dry area where no mice or insects can get to them. Cover the seed heads with netting, cheesecloth, or a paper bag with small holes poked it it so you can catch any seeds that fall.

Remove the seeds when the backs of the heads have no trace of green color left. Rub the head with your fingers or a stiff wire brush to pop out the seeds. If any of the seeds are still a little green, put them on some paper and dry them some more before you store them.

If you have a lot of sunflower shells to crack, spread the seeds out between layers of newspaper and use a rolling pin to crush them. You can also soak the seeds in cold water for several hours and then the soft shells are easier to remove.

In his book, Stalking The Wild Asparagus. Euell Gibbons says, "I discovered that if the seeds were run through a food chopper fitted with a plate barely large enough to prevent the seed going through whole, the shells would be cracked off." Mr. Gibbons then dumped the crushed hull-and-kernel mixture into a large bowl of water, and let it stand for half an hour. The light outer coverings floated to the top of the liquid and were skimmed off ... and the heavy kernels, which stayed at the bottom, were poured into a piece of muslin, squeezed, spread on a baking sheet, and dried in a slow oven.

Store your cracked seeds in small covered jars and shake them every week or so to keep them from getting musty. If you store too many seeds together, they'll heat up and lose some of their nutritional value.

If you shell more seeds than you need, store them in zippered plastic bags with all the air removed. Seeds lose some of their vitamins when exposed to air for a long time.

Photo by Burntchestnut