How do you dry sunflower seeds?

[raymilosh]

hi all
I have always loved salted sunflower seeds. This year I grew a nice crop of them. The seeds in the flowers are looking pretty much ready. The seed coats are dry and the kernels taste like corn or nuts.
I want to keep them as a food source/ snack for as long as possible. how do you all do it?
ray

[uncle Will in In.]

They will dry right in the head if the birds or mice don't beat you to them. If you have a place inside where you could hang the heads it would be easy to do. If they are ripe you can rub them out of the heads and spread them out on a table or something similar until they are really dry.

[Windy in Kansas]

Once harvested the seeds are often soaked in a brine and then roasted in an oven to redry them.

If you don't want salted ones you might simply roast them in a low oven to make sure they are dry enough.

Unfortunately critters love sunflower seeds, so before popping a handful of them into your mouth you should look them over for that tell tale tiny hole. Might be great protein but the taste is terrible.

Wait till the back of the seed heads are starting to turn brown before picking. Otherwise the seeds may not be full yet. When the back of the seed heads are starting to turn brown you can then cut them off with about a foot or so of stem and then hang them up in a barn/shed to finish drying. Once dried you can do like Unc. Will said and rub their heads together to release the seeds. Make a saltwater solution of about 1/4 cup of salt to 1 quart water. Make enough to cover the amount of seeds you plan on baking. If I remember right, after soaking overnight bake them in the oven of about 300 degrees for about 45 minutes. It's been a few years since I've had any sunflower seeds of my own. My kids and I grew some this summer so we will be doing the same thing here in the near future.

[raymilosh]

Thanks everyone.


From the looks of the seed heads, and from the amount I've already harvested, it looks like i'll have about 3 gallon bags or more full of them. that aught to hold me for a while.
Next year, I may plant twice as much.
ray