User blog:Asnow89/Cooking 101: Seeds

What is a seed?
A seed is an embryonic plant itself and the origin of nutrition. Seeds come in all different sizes, shapes and colors.

Many seeds are edible and the majority of human calories come from seeds, especially from legumes and nuts. Nuts are technically seeds, but most of us don’t think of them as one and the same. For our purposes, nuts are the larger, denser edible seeds; seeds are the smaller ones that require considerably more work to actually eat in their natural state.

Seeds also provide most cooking oils, many beverages and spices and some important food additives.

Types of Seeds
There are dozens of types of seeds, but here are some of the most popular edible seeds.

Tips & Tricks

 * Soak your seeds before roasting/drying them
 * Roast seeds at ultra-low temperatures (160 F)
 * Toasting seeds enhances the flavor
 * Store seeds in a cool, dry area (up to 12 months in a fridge, but 2-3 months in a pantry)
 * You can freeze seeds if you want them to last even longer

Seed Recipes
Appetizer Recipes Seeds make great appetizers- just toast them, add a little salt or sugar, and voila you have an appetizer.

Recipes: Almond-Flax Granola, Toasted Pumpkin Seeds, Flax and Pumpkin Seed Corn Bread

 Main Course Recipes  Seeds, seed oils, and seed pastes work well in savory recipes. Toast a few and add on top for garnish or let them be the center of the meal.

Recipes: Golden Sunflower Catfish with Roasted Corn Salad, Chicken with Toasted Sesame Seed Glaze, Red Bean Veggie Burgers

Dessert Recipes You will find seeds in a lot of dessert recipes, in the flour, sprinkled on top, or even incorporated right into the batter.

Recipes: Pumpkin Hazelnut Tea Cake with Flax Seeds, Honey-grilled Grapefruit with Toasted Sesame Seeds, Lemon-Poppy Sunburst Bread