Fresh Roasted Sunflower Seeds.

Sunflower Seeds have been a staple of ChildRoots afternoon snacks since the beginning. A handful of them will provide excellent quantities of vitamin E, B vitamins, and gobs of nutrients. We were using a roasted unsalted variety from our vendor, a couple of months ago I started to get them raw. Not only is it cheaper, but I can control the (type and amount of) oil and the salt level. I've never been a big fan of sunflower seed, I don't think that I've ever had fresh roasted sunflower seeds before. I can't believe the difference in flavor, I am now a friend of the sunflower seed. Here's my method. 

Take a sheet pan an pour four cups of raw sunflower seeds. Spinkle with and acceptable amount of salt and drizzle with olive oil. I can't recommend keeping some oil in a squeezie bottle enough. They go into a 400 degree oven for about 8 minutes.

This is the deliciousness that comes out of the oven, and not to mention the smell.

 

Immediately and carefully slide them in to a bowl, preferably one that isn't plastic. Stir them for a minute or two, this will help the salt coat evenly.

 

These are so much better than the ones that come from the package. Hopefully in the fall we'll be able to try this with seeds from the giant sunflowers in front of ChildRoots. We tried to harvest them last year, sadly we did not dry them properly and they got moldy. We will learn from our mistakes.