Gianni Henny

I used to make fermented sunflower seeds several years ago.  It could be called sunflower cheese, but I am not too sure if it is cheesy enough to deserve that name.

I started off following directions from Ann Wigmore's book The Hippocrates Diet.  She has you make "rejuvelac" by sprouting wheat berries, chopping them in the blender some with water, and then letting it sit 2 to 3 days and strain out the solids, saving the liquid rejuvelac.  This is a fermented food meant to contribute to your vitamin intake on a raw foods vegan diet, and it can be used to culture other foods apparently.

For the sunflower seeds, I would soak them overnight, and the next day I'd blend them in a blender with the rejuvelac until very smooth.  At this point I deviated from the recipe.  She has you ferment this for a day or maybe overnight, and it never came out appetizing to me when I tried it, so following the wisdom of cheese making, I salted it and hung it in fabric for a good 8 to 12 hours to ferment while draining.

If you go too far beyond 12 hours (in a warmer house) it will start to develop a little funk to the flavor, though still mostly edible.  Perhaps a heavy salting would help with this (I didn't know back then how important and healing salt was for us and may have skimped out of guilt).

I think with too little fermenting, it didn't taste as good.  A puree of raw sunflower seeds have a distinct flavor that is kind of hard to describe (nothing comes to mind), and I feel like giving it a good 10 to 12 hours helped tone down the flavor.  I am not sure if I'd call the fermented flavor cheesy, but it was relatively enjoyable.  The salt helped immensely in this regard.  I would slice some potatoes and bake them and eat it spread on the baked sliced potatoes.

The outside of the cheese ball (after drained several hours) does blacken.  I always figured this was some type of oxidization.

I am not sure if this experience helps at all, but I figured I'd share just in case.  Maybe it can inspire some other methods that could help you along with the sunflower cheese concept.

Sorry for digging up an old topic, but..

As far as I know, cultivated Dandelion actually has been bred to be less bitter by Europeans.  

Also, I think the dandelion sold in grocery stores are sometimes actually chicory.  Both herbs are very nutritious and medicinal.  The root of Dandelion is an excellent medicine as well as the leaves and flower stems.  Here is Maria Treben's Dandelion info.

There is nothing wrong with planting seeds from local wild dandelion, but it might be worth a try to also plant some of the Italian or French cultivated varieties that were bred for culinary purposes.  

If you have rabbit or groundhog problems, you may have to protect the plants.  Our wild dandelion plants are almost nonexistent because of them, and they have eaten any plants we have grown from seed into oblivion.

It is said that it is best to harvest before they flower for less bitterness.  Some people cook them in a change or two of water when harvested in the heat of summer.  When I was in Italy, I saw Italians boil their bitter greens before sauteing them in garlic and olive oil.  When discussing the matter, one Italian noted the loss of [water soluble] vitamins/minerals when preparing greens this way.  I suggested drinking the water the greens were boiled in, and he said that a few of the older generations of Italians do this, so it was likely common practice at some point.

richard valley wrote:The dried casings aroun the seed have a lemony tast. We planted some 60 plants and trees we we purchased form the state as a wind break. I wasn't clever enought to make a plot plan so I would know which plants were which. I hope, we planted only two, to get them growing in large number. If they do well I can start more with cuttings.

Sumac is very easy to identify, so you will be able to pick the two plants out. They will spread and form a thicket if you leave them unattended. They spread into our (overgrown) fenced in garden area, and have not wanted to leave without a fight. Their runners are long, and if you only dig up part they will just sprout a new shoot from the remaining root in the ground. We don't mow our field but a couple of times a year, and that is not enough to eradicate them FYI. We are in the Mid Atlantic region, it may be different for other climates.

Their new growth is soft (not woody), and kinda sappy (bleeding white if I remember right) if you break it. The leaf formation resemble black walnut, but they have more of a purple or reddish stem on the new growth. I too have heard that you can peel the soft growth and eat it, but have not tried more than a piece or two.

We have tried soaking the berries in water, but never know if we let them ripen enough or too much when we do it. It is okay, but mild in flavor.

Another interesting side note: I knew an old school trapper who used them to blacken his traps. I think he put the ripe sumac berries in a big pot with the traps and simmered them and soaked them for awhile before waxing the traps.

It may be a problem plant for some people, but it is not a bad plant I'm definitely going to save some dried berries for cooking after reading this thread.

Hi - just sharing a couple of ideas that may not be so great.. but I'm sharing anyways!

The first idea that I had: If you can find a way to hang a steel ring or octagon around or above the upper edge of the barrel, you could use metal or glass beads strung on wire (or even chain) and hang them (similar to "hippie beads" that are hung over doorways). You could even secure the bottom edge of the wire holding the beads to the side so that they hang at an angle for a different effect.

The second idea that I had: How about a stained glass shield or "wall" constructed around the barrel (with a gap between the barrel and the wall)? Not sure how far away it would have to be? Without a light source behind it, it may not show much. You could probably even build the base into the cob. Possibly you could have holes spaced through the design to let heat out. I don't know if this is possible, and it sounds expensive. It would also be something that may be difficult to clean.

The third idea I have: well, this idea is very vague, but how about some kind of decoration using magnets? You obviously wouldn't cover the surface of the barrel completely, but maybe you can put a design on it using smaller magnets, possibly layered in some portions of the design. This may not cover the barrel enough to make it pleasing to the eye, but it may be a direction to consider.

And lastly: Could you build lattice cob (for lack of a better descriptive word) around the barrel? You would need something to support each layer of cob, like metal poles, or maybe tiles, stones, or bricks? I envision a spiral effect with air holes between each support that holds the cob up.

I apologize that these ideas are all made with lack of experience!