We don't grow 200, more like 25, so not sure how much help this will be but we thresh our heads inside a bag - like a brown grocery bag or even a heavy duty trash bag. Harvest the head with a foot or so of stem, stick the dried head in the bag and lightly shake or gently beat the bag against a post or tree trunk. Seeds pop right out.

Don't usually need any additional drying other than what we get from the roasting but then we don't harvest the heads until the plants are all but dead either so the seed heads are good and dry. Choose a time after no rain for several days and low humidity. If more drying is needed just hang the heads upside down in the garage or someplace warm and dry.

Then we roast them in the shell and store in jars. We shell as needed. If you prefer to roast them already shelled you can or if you just want them salted but not roasted then just let them soak overnight in a salted water mix and then simmer them in it for a couple of hours on the stove and spread them out to dry and store.

Dave

Thanks for that information, Dave, my granddaughter talked me into letting her grow a 60 foot row of sunflowers. Most will be food for the birds, but I'd like to roast some just for the heck of it.

I was also wondering about shelling the darned things, they're an awful lot of work for what you get when you shell them one at a time.

Annie

See all the other sunflower seed threads..

Here is a link that might be useful: Sunflower seed search

Yes, Ken, there are other threads on harvesting, but no one apparently has a good way of quickly cracking or shelling the darned things.

Annie

Shelling is a whole different method. I thought it was the issue of attempting to remove the whole seed from the flowers. I think they must use some kind of crusher and a screen to seperate the seeds from the hulls. I buy hulless seeds and mix them with suet for some birds. The hulless seeds contain millet, sunflower, pumpkin, safflower, peanut hearts and a few others. They look like they were tumbled in a big rotary device with abrasives that would wear off the hulls. Today, store bought whole black oil sunflower seeds are loaded with stems and other waste, sometimes up to 15%, which is not nice.

I remember hearing a podcast a few years ago about a peanut huller that is supposed to work on sunflower seeds too. apparently its made out of two metal cones and some concrete and some other stuff, designed to be shipped to the third world to ward off arthritis.

http://www.thefullbellyproject.org/ is there website, no idea how you could get one, but I think it is open source technology, so maybe all you would need is a schematic, I'm sure they would love to send you one if you donated some money to them. I think I heard about it on the agroinnovations podcast.

digdirt, could you explain the process of roasting the sun flower seeds?

Sure, just cover un-shelled seeds with salted water - we use 1/4 cup of canning salt for two quarts of water but you can use more if you want them saltier or you can skip the salt soak if you want them roasted un-salted.

To roast them preheat the oven to 275-300 degrees F. Spread them out on a cookie sheet or shallow pan and bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until lightly browned. Stir them now and then while roasting. The seeds will often develop a small crack down the center as they roast. Taste test after each stirring to see if the seeds are roasted enough for you. After roasting, cool completely and store the seeds in an airtight container.

You can also sprinkle various dry seasonings on them like barbecue, chili pepper, Cajun, and taco while still warm for different flavorings.

Dave

Thanks so much Dave.

thank you for the help!