Uses of Sunflowers

Aside from the beauty that we appreciate from them, they are also important to our diet and environment. Their benefits can be traced from its history as the American Indians use them for medicinal purposes. Today, there are a lot of uses sunflowers, we can use them for decorations, or we can eat their seeds and we can also use the oil extracted from them as an ingredient for our menu.

Sunflower Seeds as Snacks

Sunflower seeds are the fruits of sunflowers that we can use to produce other sunflower plants or we can eat them. Remember that we can’t eat the whole seed though. There are two parts of seeds, the hull and the kernel. The hull or the husk is the dry outer covering of a seed.  The only edible part of the seed is the seed kernel or the inside part of the seed. The seeds can also be classified by their patterns. The outer covers of seeds with plain black color are called black oil sunflower seeds, whereas the striped seeds are usually used for food purposes and often, they are called confectionary sunflower seeds.

Sunflower seeds are very high in oil content as well as in vitamin E which is an antioxidant that prevents the damage of your cells and also considered as anti-inflammatory. Vitamin b1 or thiamine is also present which converts carbohydrates into energy. The seeds also contains significant amounts of manganese, magnesium and selenium. Sunflower seeds are usually roasted although they can also be eaten raw. These seeds have mild nutty flavor with crunchy texture. They can be used for garnishes and for ingredients. Also, they are used as bird feeds.  Whether roasted or raw, these seeds are packed with vitamins and nutrients.

Sunflower Oil

Sunflower oil is a healthy vegetable oil which is rich in unsaturated fats. The Native Americans extracted the oil by grounding the sunflower seeds and boiling them to produce oil. They used the oils for conditioning their hair or for cooking their food. Today, the oil is being produced from seeds by applying great pressure and collecting the oil afterwards. The remains of the procedure are being process to become animal feeds. 

Sunflower oil has a light taste and appearance. It also contains huge amount of vitamin E than any other vegetable oil in the market today. There are three types of Sunflower oil, each have different properties and levels of oleic acids. These types are NuSun, which is a good type of sunflower oil for cooking or frying, another is Linoleic, which has a neutral taste without empowering the taste of the food and the other type is High Oleic which used for other applications. Sunflower oil can be used for frying and for cosmetics, though only the High Oleic variety is considered good for cosmetic purposes because of it shelf life. Sunflower oil can be used in biodiesel which can be added to petroleum to produce a biodiesel blend.

Uses of Sunflower Parts

Sunflower heads and leaves were used in traditional Russian remedies to pulmonary diseases such as bronchitis. Dakota and Pawnee Indians would use the sunflower heads by boiling them and drink them to treat lung infections. Dried stems of sunflowers are also used to make fuel and fertilizers, whereas Chinese used the fibers from the stems to make paper. Roots of the sunflowers are also found effective in absorption of radiation in the soil and can extract heavy metals such as lead. It is said that it can eliminate 95% radiation in soil in just 20 days. Sunflowers are important to us not only because of their own physical attractiveness but also because of the benefits that they give to us. So you might want to consider planting sunflowers to your garden for you to discover its true value and not only that, they will put a big smile to your face when they bloom.