This crop has become popular worldwide. It started in
America about 400 years ago. it probably was first grown on the wild
plains in California. Settlers carried the seeds wit hthem and they were comonly
scattered along the wagon trails going west.
By the 1700's the seed had reached Spain and then France where it was popular. The crop is a dryland crop and readily grows in the hot,
dry midwestern states. All summer the stalks reach the heavens and it takes a frost
to set the plant and get it ready for harvest. Once a frost has occurred, the
farmers us combines to gather and cut the head which are taken to drying sheds until the
moisture decreases. The seeds are shelled using a centrifugal air
machine. The seeds are dropped into an air stream and propelled towards a hard metal
plate. They hit the plate with great force and crack open. As the
residue drops the husk is lighter and is blown by air to the side and the finished kernels
drop into a bin where they are moved on to packaging.
Madia Oil
This plant is cultivated in Chile, France, Germany, and Italy to
obtain the sweet oil that is extracted from its seeds. The seeds yield about
41% oil. The plant is easily cultivated and the oil stock is popular.
Niger Seed
Found in Tropical Africa, the seeds yiels a yellow, edible oil
with little odor and a pleasant nutty taste. Found primarily from Ethopia to
Malawi, NIGER seed is grown as a rain crop in moister areas.. In India the
seeds are fried and eaten and are also used for chutneys and condiments.
Safflower
There are about 30 species distributed in Asia, Africa, and the Mediterranean
region. The dried florets are the source of red dye and safflower
carmine. The seeds are edible, usually being roasted first.
E-mail to us on December 22nd, 2000
David
You asked how we shell the sunflower seed without breaking the kernel. This is a very
interesting process.
The sunflower plant grows wild in the Great Plains of our nation. It is found commonly in
North Dakota, Minnesota, and Nebraska along with other nearby states. The plant requires
little help from farmers.
It is easily planted in the late spring and seems to support itself without any extra
irrigation. In fact, the crop was spread by the wagon train pioneers of the mid 1880's as
they walked the prairies and chewed on the seeds. Some dropped and the crop spread
everywhere.
When the plant grows it rises to reach the sun. It can climb to over 15 feet tall and the
plant supports a large head with hundreds of seeds on each head. The plant follows the sun
during the day and turns from East to West. The stem of the plant is tough like fibers and
supports the heavy head.
The seeds mature as they have full sun in dry windy locations. As the summer ends and the
nights cool, the seeds finish maturing and birds love the eat them as they prepare to fall
from the heads. The race is on with Mother Nature. it takes a cold freeze to set the heads
and stiffen them enough to harvest. By now the plants are drooping towards the ground and
the farmer uses a combine to harvest the heavy heads....
Once the heads are stored they are allowed to dry. As they dry the seed pods open and the
seeds fall from the heads. Shaking helps them drop all their seeds. Eventually the seeds
are dried in moisture and when they are dried enough they are dropped from above through a
jet of compressed air. The air blasts the seeds into a metal plate that shatters the seed
from the hull.
As they break the lighter hull passes through another air blast that deflects it to the
side and the heavier seed falls to the bin below. In this way the seed and hull are
separated. Because the separation is not completely accurate, the entire seed that is
collected now passes through sizing belts that allow the seeds to fall through by size.
The full seeds are larger and remain on the belt. The smaller seeds are dropped onto
moving belts below and put into other bins.
Sunflower seeds come in both the oil seed variety and the confectioner variety. Oil seed
sunflower is the predominant crop and the seeds are usually black and loaded with oil.
This crop is used as an oil and the separated seeds are crushed in another process. Birds
love this black sunflower seed and most pet stores sell it to feed the wild birds.
Our firm uses the Confectionery Sunflower Seed Crop and this is a lot lighter gray in
color, often the hull is a striped hull, and it makes a wonderful snack.
The Confectioner Sunflower Seed comes into our plant in 45,000 pound semi loads. There are
900 sacks -each weighing 50 pounds. We run these raw seeds through a Continuous Oil
Roasting process at the rate of 1,000 pounds an hour. The seeds are in the 350 degree oil
for about 3 minutes at the most and come out toasted with a crunchy texture.
The major user of this roasted sunflower seed is the restaurant industry. You often see it
on the end of the salad bar. Roasted sunflower seeds are also popular with candy
manufacturers and health food stores. Some bakeries make sunflower seed bread.
We sell over 400,000 pounds or 9 semi loads of these roasted sunflower kernels each year.
They are packaged in 5 pound and 25 pound boxes for our commercial customers. Some years
we have processed over 1.2 million pounds or about 23 semi loads. It depends on the
customer base we supply.
The market has remained stable since the early 1980's and is considered a mature market.
-Original Message- From: David Burns
Sent: Friday, December 22, 2000
Subject: Sunflower Seed Trivia
How do you shell sunflower seeds for mass production, without damaging the kernel? Thank
you , David |
