A sunflower contains about 1000 to 1500 fruits, these are the black clusters in the middle of the sunflower. The black skin of the fruit is round on one side and tapered on the other. Without the shell, the kernels are typically cream colored.

Sunflower seeds are aromatic, taste sweet and slightly nutty. The sunflower seed oil is extracted from the kernels. While peeled seeds are mainly used as bird feed.

Seeds are harvested in September and October, but available all year round.

The seeds were initially used as an ornamental plant and it wasn’t until the 17th century that the fruits were used for baking or roasted as a substitute for coffee.

Today, there are huge sunflower fields in the US, Ukraine, Russia, China and all over Europe, which provide for new supplies of sunflower seeds and sunflower oil.