How to Prepare Fresh Sunflower Seeds To Eat
Here is a great article on preparing sunflower seeds for consumption. Before you get started, know that the average Santa Barbara Blueberries sunflower face is about 13" across and it contains approximately 1 lb of sunflower seeds. This is a big ole' flower!
You may notice some sunflowers have some seed gaps on the flower face. This is because the birds like sunflower seeds almost as much as they like blueberries- bird netting goes up next year. Also notice that the ready-to-harvest flowers are now facing downward. This is a defense mechanism built into the sunflower that discourages many bird species from feasting on the seeds when they are edible. As soon as the seeds start ripening, the flowers bend to the ground.
