Making your own sunflower oil can have multiple purposes, whether for cooking or adding to homemade beauty products. If you choose to use the large, confectionary sunflower seeds, you will need additional equipment and a press in order to grade, dehull, and winnow the seeds. The small, black oilseeds also produce almost double the amount of sunflower oil. The amount of seeds you need depends on how much oil you wish to produce. To make approximately 3 gallons of oil, you will need 35 pounds of oilseeds. If you’re growing your own sunflowers, that equals about 140 plants.
- Sunflower oilseeds
- Roasting pan
- Strainer
- Heat-resistant & freezer-safe container
Place sunflower oilseeds ina blender and grind until it’s a fine-meal consistency, then place in the roasting pan.
Roast oilseeds in the oven at 300 degrees F, stirring every five minutes for 20 minutes. Let it cool for a brief moment then pour through a strainer into the heat- resistant and freezer-safe container.
Store the containers of oil in the refrigerator. The oil should be used within a month, because it contains no preservatives.
Freeze the leftover cake of mash to reheat at a later time for the remaining oil. This cake of mash can also be used for bird food.
References
Homemade oil: How to make your own oil press for sunflower seedsGardening: Grow sunflowers make plant pots
Resources
mybeautyrecipes.com: Benefits of sunflower oil in your beauty recipes
Writer Bio
Debbie Dragon has been writing since 2003. She graduated from the College of Saint Rose with a Bachelor of Science degree in computer information systems and a minor in business administration. She is the co-owner of TrifectaLLC.com and ReliableWriters.com. Dragon's work has been published on hundreds of websites, including Entrepreneur.com and she has ghostwritten several books and ebooks.