Sunflower Seeds – Healthy Food Ingredients

by janerc

Sunflower seeds can be either eaten fresh or used as ingredients in baking bread and other dishes. They are great sources of healthy fatty acids and are popular in desserts and candy. Several sunflower aficionados are adding more flavor to the seeds by creating their own brine. The Native Americans were the first humans who discovered that sunflower seeds are quite tasty to eat. They ground it to become a healthy flour to be used in preparing a variety of dishes or bake sweets and cakes.

You can make your own sunflower seed brine by initially washing the seeds then putting them in a large bowl with cold water. Stir well until dirt and sediments settle down the bowl and the particles are floating up.

You don’t need to create brine if you want to eat sunflower seeds without shells. Brine is only suitable of adding flavor to sunflower seeds with shells. Spices and salt can be added to sunflower seeds with no shells, and you can put some vegetable oil (much better if sunflower oil is used) to make the spices stick with the kernels.

Then, roasting sunflower seeds comes next. This is just optional but if you want your seeds to last longer, this is a good idea. You can leave it out when you plan to eat the seeds right away. To roast sunflower seeds, place them in a single layer on a plate. Then, turn the oven to 275 degrees C and put the plate in it. The seeds will be cooked for about 10 minutes. Don’t leave them in the oven for long since they burn easily.

The sunflower seeds can be now dipped in brine after being cooled down. There are brine recipes that are suitable for both roasted and non-roasted sunflower seeds. You can find a lot of recipes online or you can experiment on your own by adding the spices that you like to add.

Related Sunflower Seeds Articles