Sunflower Seeds

Sunflowers are grown all over the world. They are grown for two seperate goals: One is to make sunflower oil, and the other to grow sunflower seeds. The country that exports the most sunflowers is America, with a huge margin between it and the rest of the world.
Sunflower seeds grow in the center of the sunflower. These flowers can grow quite large and turn their flowers towards the sun the entire day. Harvesting the sunflower seeds is done by machines.

Processing

After they are harvested the seeds are cleaned, sieved and pealed. The pealing of the seeds takes place under very high pressure. The seeds are blasted against a hard plate, making the shell burst open. The shell is separated from the core by suction. After de-shelling the seeds they are sieved again, sorted and checked until the seeds have a purity of 99.8%. There is some tolerance for broken seeds.