Sunflower Seed

Sunflower seed is the edible kernel of the common sunflower, small, teardrop-shaped, and pale beige when hulled. It tastes nutty with a gentle crunch and a warm, toasty aroma; cooks sprinkle it on salads and breads, grind it into seed butter or pesto, and fold it into granola or batters; typical retail forms include hulled kernels, in-shell seeds, raw, roasted, and salted.

Domesticated in North America by Indigenous communities, sunflower later spread to Europe and Russia where large-scale cultivation flourished; today major producers supply kernels for snacks and baking and press seeds for oil.