Hey Friends! I finally got around to harvesting my sunflower seeds. I will say HANDS DOWN one of the most fun things I’ve done in a long time! I will try to give you some step by step tips and at the end of this post is my recipe for sunflower seed butter!! Enjoy!

STEP 1-

After drying your sunflower seeds they are ready to harvest. I took my big canning pot to put them in. Take the sunflower heads and literally hit them on the side of the pot. You can also use your thumb and run it across the seeds. They will pop right out. Such a fun thing to do!

Ignore my scary knife lol. You can also use a knife to hit the sunflower heads and the seeds will pop right out.

STEP 2

Once you have harvested your seeds I would lay them out in a cool dark place and let them dry out even more. once they are removed from the sunflower head they might still not be 100% dry. Being dry is key in them splitting open and you getting the actual seed out of the shell. I would say lay them in a single layer to dry and wait about a week. Then they are ready.

STEP 3

I am going to be 100% transparent here, this part did not work for me well since my seeds were NOT dry enough. I skipped the above step and that did not help. To remove the shells from the seeds you can do a few options.

Place the seeds in a food processor and pulse 5-7 times and see if the shells break open. if they do and you see the seeds you can then place it all into a big pot of water and the shells will float to the top and the seeds will fall to the bottom. You can then discard the shells and keep the seeds. Once again lay them in a single layer to dry. Then they are ready to use
Another option is to place them in a zip lock bag and run a rolling pin over them to crack open the shells. Then place in water and follow that process.
The last option I saw was to place the seeds in a bowl and take your cookie dough mixer and run it through the seeds. this should separate the shells from the seeds. Then place in water and follow that process.

STEP 4 + RECIPE

Once you have your seeds you are ready to make your butter! You can of course buy sunflower seeds ready to go which is partially what I did for my recipe since I wasn’t able to separate my seeds from the shells very well.

INGREDIENTS:

3 cups roasted sunflower seeds ( already dried with no shells or store bought)

2-3 Dates ( pitted and soaked in hot water for about 30 min prior to using)

1/4 tsp sea salt

optional: coconut sugar 2 TBS

DIRECTIONS:

Pre-heat oven to 350

Place seeds on a baking sheet and bake for 10 min to bring out their flavor. Let cool for 10 minutes before using but do process them while still warm as this helps blend them.

Place seeds in food processor and begin to blend. This process will take about 7-8 minutes. It take a long time to get the natural oils to come out of the seeds and really allow it to be silky smooth.

At about 2-3 minutes stop and push any butter that is on the sides down. Then blend again. ( see image below for consistency)

At 5-6 minutes stop again and push the butter down with a spatula. ( see image below for consistency)

At 7-8 minutes it should be ultra creamy and blended smooth ( see image below for consistency)

At that point add your dates or coconut sugar and salt. Blend for another 2 minutes for a total of 10 minutes blending all together. Blend longer until dates are fully dissolved if needed.

It’s ready! Creamy and delicious!! Store in an airtight container in the fridge or pantry. Should last quite a while if kept in the fridge. 2 months or so.

That’s it! I hope you enjoy!