Hi all! For the past few years I've tried out a variety of wild edible seeds, some of which are great eating, while others, well, not so much. Anyway, even very nice-tasting seeds can be sorta ruined if a third of each bite consists of hulls, husks, dry leaves, twigs and the occasional unlucky bug. Which brings me to the topic of winnowing and alternatives to winnowing.
I'll start by saying that my
experience with, and knowledge of, traditional winnowing is severely limited. My early attempts were simply not satisfactory, especially not for the smaller seeds (plantain or small grass seeds for instance), so I quit and tried something else. Maybe this method is inferior to traditional winnowing performed by someone who knows what they're doing, but I've found it works for me, even on the tiniest seeds, so I'm posting it here just on the off chance that it might be useful to someone else.
This method is simple. It just involves a round-bottom bowl, the seeds, and possibly a small
spoon for removing trash (especially when you clean tiny seeds). No wind needed. You simply put the right amount of seeds (more on that later) in the bowl, and start gently shaking the bowl. After a while, the chaff and other non-seed material will rise to the surface. It will also tend to accumulate in certain spots on the surface, so it can (hopefully) be easily removed. Exactly where on the surface it gathers depends on what kind of shaking movement you use. I've found that a circular movement makes the non-seed material gather in a nice pile in the middle of the bowl, while side-to-side shaking will tend to put it more spread around the edge, or in two piles on the sides. Once a nice heap of unwanted stuff has assembled, you remove it and start shaking the remaining seeds again. When a new (hopefully smaller) heap appears, you remove it. Repeat until the seeds are as clean as required.
The bowl can be any size, as long as you can comfortably shake it for a while. The important thing is that the layer of seeds is the right thickness. If it's too thin (or the total amount of seeds is too small) it seems to me that the trash doesn't assemble so well. If it's too thick it's heavy, and you will probably also have to shake it longer to get the seeds clean (not a nice combination). You will soon find the bowl size and amount of seeds that works for you.
I
think that a round-bottom bowl works better than one with a 90-degree angle between bottom and sides, but more research would be good. It seems to me that a flat-bottom bowl will tend to spread the trash more, but I'm not 100%.
So. This is the method I use at the moment (and have for a few years now). Obviously it'll be a pain in the neck to clean huge amounts of seeds this way, but for the small and medium amounts I gather I'm rather happy with it. Has anyone tried this, or heard that it's been used historically? Ideas for improvement?
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