Sunflower seeds are popular with both birds and people.
by Journalist Jay
Our winter visitors and residents are beginning to arrive! White-crowned and White-throated Sparrows are moving into the area. Hopefully it can be a good winter for the Red-breasted Nuthatch and other northern birds. The migrant Goldfinches and Bluejays are also arriving. We already know that sunflower is the preferred seed by most feeder birds. Many of you have planted sunflowers for their beauty and to accent your garden. Those flowers also have the seeds that birds like and you can harvest them for the birds. Keep an eye on your sunflowers as fall progresses, whether you want to harvest them for people food or bird food. Sunflowers are mature when the back of their heads turn brown and dry. Most of the yellow petals will have dried and fallen, with the seeds still plump. Sunflowers can tolerate some frost when they are small. The main trick is to get to them before the birds can steal them, but don’t harvest the heads too soon. Some growers that grow organic seed put nets over them for the last few weeks; of course, you can just put out the heads until the birds have completely picked out the seeds.
Cut off the entire flower head when you are ready to harvest the seeds. Next, place it in a net bag or tie a piece of cheesecloth around it before hanging it upside-down. The flower head should be hung in a warm, dry place with good air circulation for about three weeks. Seeds will start to drop out as they dry. Get the rest of the seeds out of the head by knocking it against a table or counter, or by rubbing two heads together. Be sure the seeds are fully dried before putting them in air-tight containers for storage. If the seeds are for the birds, no further processing is needed. You can grow sunflowers from the same seeds you buy to feed the birds, but they will be much smaller heads than the ones offered by garden centers and catalogs.
Seeds for people to eat can be hulled and eaten raw or used for baking. These seeds can be hulled and fried or roasted, including roasting in the shell. Some of you who don’t want the hulls all over the ground will hull them yourself. To hull dried sunflower seeds, begin by breaking them up with a rolling pin, hammer or food chopper. Then, drop seeds and hulls into a large container of water and stir vigorously. The kernels will sink to the bottom and the shells will float. Dry the kernels before roasting or storing.
Those of you that want some to eat, both types striped and oil are good, you can roast them or they can be eaten raw. Roast plain sunflower seeds on a cookie sheet in a 300 degree Fahrenheit oven for 15 to 25 minutes. If you like salted seeds, soak them overnight in a brine of two quarts of water to 1/4 to 1/2 cup of salt. The next morning, boil the seed brine with the seeds for a few minutes and drain. Spread the seeds on a cookie sheet and roast in a 200 degree Fahrenheit oven for three hours or until crisp. If roasted long enough, they are easy to shell. If preferred, you can baste them with just a little butter while they are roasting. Stir or shake occasionally so they roast evenly. Another way to roast sunflower seeds is to simply mix them with butter and salt. Use about 1 1/2 tablespoons butter and 1 teaspoon salt for every 2 cups of seeds and roast them for about an hour at 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Shake or stir them occasionally. And this is the world according to Jonesy, who is looking forward to apple pie, sauce, pumpkin pie and visiting Mike and Pam Lawrick at P&M Pumpkins on Rocky Weed Road.
