Every summer, I delight in fresh-grilled corn on the cob. If you’re like me, a hot, butter ear of corn fresh from the grill is the perfect complement to a warm summer evening. Not only does the dish taste absolutely delicious, but it also has fiber and other important nutrients that the body craves for good health. Not only that, but it becomes a savory delight when slathered with melted butter and salt – YUM!
But a new food trend seems to be breaking through a barrier this summer, and it might gain enough momentum to take away some of corn on the cob’s market share. So what is this new food getting laid on a sizzling grill near you? Nothing more than a whole sunflower!
All right, I know what you’re thinking – why would anyone want to eat a grilled sunflower? But bear with me. It tastes a lot better than it seems at first glance.
Millions of people are fans of sunflower seeds and sunflower seed oil. And if you’re among that large group, you should think twice about rejecting a taste of a grilled sunflower without trying it first. And it is easier to find the right sunflower to slap onto your hot grill thanks to the good people over at the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company in Mansfield, Missouri.
First, you need to find a sunflower with all of its seeds formed. However, don’t wait too long. Wait for the seeds to have soft shells all over the bud.
Next, you need to strip the head of the flower of all petals. This can take some time but can be quite a fun activity if you put a video on our scroll through all the new articles we published every day here at AWM.com. Take your time stripping the sunflower of all the unnecessary parts and then cover the head of the flower with oil before placing it face down on the grill.
Only leave the sunflower on the hot grill for about five minutes. Remove it carefully so as not to damage the surface. Then coat it with sundried tomatoes and sprinkle it with herbs like basil or anything that makes your taste buds soar.
As you can see from the video included at the bottom (and from the image throughout this article), the head of the sunflower can be a delicious delicacy if grilled to perfection. Here are a few comments shared with Facebook by people just like you.
“I love sunflower seeds, but I never even thought about eating them like that. I eat them “ripe”/black straight out of the sunflower. They taste like ones in a bag but fresh. Not roasted and salted. As kids, we would steal them from people’s gardens.”
“I am going to try this on a couple of my big ones that fell over. I was just going to give them to the goats, but… do you think immature Mammoth Giants will be good? I usually plant short sunflowers in the pumpkin patch and tall ones in the bean trellis, but I got my flats reversed this year, which led to a couple of windy losses. You can see a couple of heads in the vines. It looks like I’m developing a line of trailing sunflowers!”
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