1.22.2010

Sunflower Butter


Remember a few months ago when I showed you guys how to make your own nut butter? Well, I decided to try sunflower seed butter last week, and it turned out great. The color is a little scary at first, but the taste is perfect, and a nice change since we usually eat fresh almond butter.




Sunflower seeds are very oily, but the good kind of oil (polyunsaturated). They also provide almost 100% of your daily vitamin E, 50% of your daily vitamin B1, and tons of manganese, tryptophan, selenium, folate, and vitamin B5.

The vitamin E is a powerful antioxidant that works to eliminate free radicals throughout your body. It has an anti-inflammatory affect and is beneficial for people with conditions like arthritis, asthma and eczema. The vitamin E also keeps cholesterol under control by preventing it from oxidizing (cholesterol can only block arteries when it is oxidized). The phytosterols in the vitamin E help lower blood cholesterol as well.




Magnesium found in sunflower seeds can help lower blood pressure and alleviate migraine headaches. In addition, the selenium works to repair damaged DNA in cells, which helps prevent cancer from forming and spreading.The sunflower butter is good with almost anything – on sandwiches with some raw honey or bananas, used as a dip for apples, carrots or celery, or mixed into smoothies or yogurt. You could even try baking with it! Plus, it’s really fun to make, and since the seeds are so oily you get a really nice creamy texture pretty quickly.





Recipe

Place sunflower seeds (preferably unsalted) into food processor. Process until very smooth and creamy.





As a sidenote, I tried to grow sunflowers in my garden last summer but didn't get much more than a sprout. It's tough in these little city gardens... but not impossible! I have a friend who did it, but she also is a Master Gardener and walking through her backyard is like walking through a tropical rainforest! Maybe I'll try again this summer though.


6 comments:

  1. Do you know how long this would last and should we keep it in the fridge?

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  2. Definitely keep it in the fridge, so you don't risk nuts/seeds spoiling. I'm not sure how long it lasts but we've kept homemade almond butter for months, so I'd imagine this would be the same! We've had ours for about 2 weeks now and it's still very fresh.

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  3. I was going to try this with pumpkin seeds, what do you think? Did you like the sunflower butter plain or next time would you add spices?

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  4. looks great. gonna try it. loving your site from down here in australia.

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  5. I like the sunflower butter plain. Spices wouldn't be bad, but keeping it plain allows for multiple different uses without interfering with flavors. And, I think pumpkin seed butter sounds like a great thing to try! Let me know how it turns out!

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    ReplyDelete