How To: Eat unshelled sunflower seeds

Sunflower seeds are as delicious as the hard shell surrounding them is off-putting. But once you learn this cracking technique, eating them will be a breeze.

Step 1
Place one unshelled seed in your mouth. Line it up horizontally with your tongue, so that the two long ends touch your bottom and your top teeth.

You can also lay the seed lengthwise on the indentation in your lower molars.

Step 2
Apply pressure with your teeth to crack the shell.

Step 3
Use your tongue and teeth to separate the shell and the inner seed in your mouth.

Step 4
Spit the shell from your mouth. If this is difficult, move the shell to the front of your mouth with your tongue and remove it manually.

Step 5
Repeat the above process, working two seeds at a time. Shell one at a time, using your tongue to hold the other seed in a corner of your mouth.

Step 6
Add seeds to your mouth as you become more proficient. This takes practice, but it's worth it!

Fact: Russia, Ukraine, and Argentina are the top sunflower-producing countries in the world.