A gift of nature: Sunflower seed benefits
Who has not felt marvelled by the simple natural beauty of a sunflower, especially when turn towards the sun? But not only beauty and happiness give us this wonderful flower, but also food. Sunflower seeds are used to elaborate fine oil known as sunflower seed oil for gourmet cooking and frying, and also it is also used to feed poultry.
The sunflower plant is native from North America and Peru. When the Spanish came sunflower plant seeds were taken to Europe where they are cultivated in countries as Romania, Bulgaria, Hungary, and Russia; and in other parts as well as Argentina and Egypt where they call it Bethrat Dawar al Shams.
Its scientific name is Helianthus annus and it is also commonly known as marigold of Peru. It belongs to the Asteraceae or sunflower family tow which belong other plants as dandelion, Echinacea, lettuce, marigolds, etc.
This plant can reach a tall height of 5-20' and produces bright yellow flowers of almost 12 inches of diameter that look like the sun -therefore, the name- and twist their stems following the sun movements. But the real great thing of these flowers is in their seeds, rich in fat acids, that can be eaten raw or in meals, bread and desserts. Sunflower seed benefits were first discovered by Native Americans who cooked and baked sunflower seeds and also used it to make a nutritive flavour that could be used to prepare different meals.
To spice up the taste of sunflower seeds you can make you own brine. Place the seeds on a bowl with cold water and stir them until the dirt accumulated on the bottom. Then, roast the seeds -it is not necessary but helps keeping them for long time- in the oven at 275 ?C during 10 minutes. Beware that the seeds do not turn so dark. After this they are ready to put in the brine, which can be made with one litre of water and two dl of salt. Pour the seeds and let them soak for 12 hours. Finally let them dry completely you can eat them of store them fro months.
Finally, the brine is only if you want to keep the sunflower seeds with their shells; if you remove the shells you can just spice them up with salt directly sparked on them, and also with vegetable oil, spices and cooking spray as well.
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