Braised sunflower hearts

I love artichokes. I live in a climate not conducive to growing them and I don't like buying them from the grocery store even though I do.

I came across this article about "Braised Sunflowers" and I can't wait to try this. Sunflowers grow anywhere and are a botanical cousin to the artichoke. Farmers grow them around here often, fields and fields of GMO sunflowers for sunflower seeds. So, I'm going to grow my own heirloom sunflowers and eat the heads with garlic butter. I'm sure cooking styles are a variable but some basic do's, it's worth a shot to try these out and see if they're for me. Hope you enjoy.

Please visit the site if you can. www.wickedtastyharvest.com...

Here is also a video referenced within the article: how2heroes.com... It is not a YT video.

Here is a bit about preparation from Yahoo which is also a great site about this item:

At Eleven Madison Park, cooks first strip the flower of its colorful petals and fibrous stem. Then they plunge it three times into boiling water, then an ice bath. Once dry, the sunflower heart is braised until tender in a rich barigoule sauce of white wine, onion, fennel, thyme, bay leaves, and lemon—a riff on a classic artichoke preparation. The chef cakes one side with buttery brioche crust crumbs and sears it until it’s a perfect golden-brown disc.

The intricate process ensures “that all the floral aroma from the sunflower is gone, because the flower tastes so floral that it’s horrible,” Eleven Madison Park representative Sarah Rosenberg told us. “It’s like a wheat grass perfume.” Not all that appetizing, unlike Eleven Madison Park’s version, which tastes like an artichoke heart that’s somehow (impossibly) artichoke-i-er.

Didn’t realize sunflower hearts are edible? Don’t feel too badly about it: Even John Sandbakken, executive director of the National Sunflower Association, hasn’t tried eating one. Nor has he ever come across a recipe for sunflower heart or seen such a dish featured on a restaurant menu. ”I’ve never even heard of it,” Sandbakken told us.

www.yahoo.com...

ETA, had to add this:

sunflower parmesan,starts very like this, but after braising the sunflowers are dipped in seasoned flour then egg wash then parmesan cheese and breadcrumbs and deep fried or drizzled with olive oil and baked then topped with some mozzarella and marinara sauce. My favorite.
www.backwoodshome.com...

a reply to: StoutBroux

Sounds really interesting, and something I'll have to try out. We'll have a lot of sunflowers in the garden this year, so I'll definitely be printing up some instructions and tucking them away til it's time.

I had thought that there were no GMO sunflowers, so I hit the Googles, and it appears they are definitely not GMO. That said - most commercial sunflowers/sunflower fields are sprayed with herbicides, and many are "naturally" (with human assistance) bred for herbicide resistance, so growing your own, as with pretty much everything, is of course, ideal.

Thanks for the info - I never would have considered anything beyond salting & roasting seeds.

a reply to: dogstar23

I haven't found out yet, but I'm sure there is a specific window of time to pick these for it to be edible. If you find any recipes or uses, please share. This is a cheap, easy and beautiful food source.

Is it only certain varieties you can eat? Or could you do any type of sunflower?