Sunflower Kernels
Sunflowers are classified as Helianthus annuus.

The showy sunflower, with its bright yellow petals radiating from a dark hub of seeds, can reach up to 12 inches in diameter. Sunflowers were cultivated by the Indians of the Americas long before Europeans discovered them. Today, the Russians are one of the largest sunflower seed producers in the world. The seeds have a hard black-and-white striped shell that must be removed.

These seeds are a useful source of vitamin E and they are high in linoleic acid (needed for the maintenance of cell membranes). The iron-rich sunflower seeds are, by weight, 47 percent fat and 24 percent protein. The pale yellow, delicately-flavored sunflower-seed oil extracted from the seeds is very high in polyunsaturated fat and low in saturated fat.