I did a search on this & found about 1/2 eat the shells & 1/2 spit them out. I was going to make some raw cookie bars using sunflower seeds & am planning on grinding them up to a course powder.

Sound okay to everyone?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/06/2011 11:52PM by juicerkatz.

dont the shells have some kind of enzyme or something on them meant to reduce their digestibility so when animals eat them they get @#$%& out and "planted" elsewhere? im not sure if this is the case, but I thought it was...

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?

I don't know the answer but I surmise that ground to a powder would be fine in a recipe. I wonder how it will affect the taste.

I think the taste will probably be masked by dates, coconut or other stuff that we decide to throw in, lol.

i read once in a cockatiel rearing book that small caged birds had acutally died of starvation because their owners thought their little dishes were quite full ... but without looking to see, they were just full of sunflower husks in them ... so im guessing the birds avoided them as they would be devoid of anything ..to the point of keeling over

now before anyone gets their feathers in a ruffle .. no im not comparing us to birds

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

You mean the outer black and white hull? or do you mean the thin inner light tan membrane that comes off when you sprout them? I wouldn't eat the outer shell, unless it was the very last source of nutrition on earth.

Ewww.
Too woody.

Vinny

Why would you want to eat something so completely indigestable? Even ground up fine, that is not healthy. That's like blending wheatgrass and drinking it fiber and all. Not recommended.

No. Just as I would not eat a walnut shell. Perhaps we are misunderstanding what you mean by "shell"?

From the other sites I am reading they say to chew the shell up well before swallowing. Supposedly the extra fiber is good for you. I don't know all the details, and it seems many on the other sites don't either.

Maybe it is just a case of being to lazy to hull them first, as they are a pain to break open, esp. if you plan on using many in a recipe.

Extra fiber... that's like eating the cardboard package for extra fiber. Weird.

Jgunn Wrote:
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> i read once in a cockatiel rearing book that small
> caged birds had acutally died of starvation
> because their owners thought their little dishes
> were quite full ... but without looking to see,
> they were just full of sunflower husks in them
> ... so im guessing the birds avoided them as they
> would be devoid of anything ..to the point of
> keeling over
>
> now before anyone gets their feathers in a ruffle
> .. no im not comparing us to birds


Made that mistake when I was a kid... turns out they were millet shells/husks and sunflower shells. She kept squacking/yelling at me. I thought it was just being picky and avoiding the healthy stuff. Um yeah.. came home to a dead bird the day I planned on buying more food.


I have had other birds along with rodents since.. they do not eat the shells. Watch some birds and squirrels with a feeder.. they sit there cracking them open too.

Not comparing us to birds and rodents too..but come on I think if every other species avoids eating these..and they have the teeth to actually crunch and crack them in half..why should we eat them? LOL

yea thats what im saying i watch the squirrels here ... smack an crack open walnuts and filbert/hazelnuts leving the shells behind .. maybe their on to something

...Jodi, the banana eating buddhist

jk,

It's not fiber you can use. Please don't eat the shells.

I imagine that the shells would either cause a blockage, or make tears in the g.i. tract. The only possible way to get around that might be to ferment the shells, or perhaps boil them for an extended period of time to soften them.

I saw a program about North korea a few years back. They were so desperate for food they got rations of 'substitute food', made from straw, wood chips etc. I would say sunflowers are not real food either. your not that desperate for food are you? Eating such things, especially in large amounts don't do good things to a human.

Well,

It's settled then - the general feeling on here is not to do it. Although they would be ground to a powder & would most likely cause no problems, I imagine the taste would be "off", as prev. mentioned.

On other forums, many do eat the hulls as well...

Okay, I know this will garner more than a few "EWs!" but I have eaten those roasted and salted peanuts in their shells.

I wouldnt say "ew" but be like DX you have tough teeth

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Oh, mirror in the sky
What is love?
Can the child within my heart rise above?
Can I sail through the changing ocean tides?
Can I handle the seasons of my life?