Sunflowers are beautiful to grow, but did you know they also make a tasty snack? Thankfully, Joe (@joesgarden.official) showed us how to grill sunflower heads to make a delicious treat in a recent Reel.
The scoop
The first trick to grilling a sunflower head is choosing the right one. Grilled sunflower heads are best done early in their bloom when the seeds on the head are still white.
Once you've picked your perfect sunflower, Joe explains how quick and easy it is to prepare them.
"Simply harvest the whole sunflower head and remove all of the outer petals," he says.
"Brush off the inner flowers and what we're looking for is lovely white seeds."
From there, Joe suggests brushing the bare sunflower head in melted butter and seasoning with salt and pepper. Once seasoned, place your sunflower head face down on a hot grill or in a frying pan. After roughly five minutes, your sunflower should be ready for eating.
"The flavor is absolutely delicious, tasting quite similar to grilled corn on the cob," Joe says.
How it's helping
First and foremost, growing your own food saves you money. While there are some upfront costs of gardening, being able to go grab some herbs or fruits and veggies from your yard is much cheaper than buying them from the store.
Growing sunflowers is also a great way to keep local pollinators happy. Since pollinators play such an essential role in our ecosystem, it's a great way to encourage more to come around your backyard, which can benefit you and your neighbors.
In fact, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 80% of crop-producing plants rely on pollinators, so your garden will help keep your crops and your neighbor's crops abundant.
Growing your own food is also a big bonus for the planet. It helps cut down on the environmental impact of many steps in the shipping of food around the world — from carbon pollution of various shipping methods to plastic packaging used to keep food fresh.
What everyone's saying
A lot of commenters had no clue you could chow down on the entire head of the sunflower.
"Had no idea this was a thing!" one person commented. Although they had some competition for the new snack. "Now if I could just get the squirrels from chewing off the heads and running across the yard with them."
"So cool!" another person said. "Never seen it done like this before."
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