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Old December 3, 2011   #1
Neohippie
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Default Good way to clean basil seeds?

I'm trying to save some basil seeds, and I was wondering if anyone had a clever method to remove the seeds from the little "capsules" they come in. (Hopefully y'all know what I mean. Looks like there's 4 seeds closed up in each little "husk" I stripped off the plant.)

I let them dry completely and stripped them off the stem, and then started rubbing them and scrunching them in my hands to see if the seeds would just pop out. A few did, but most of them are still tightly enclosed, and the rubbing seems to only smoosh the outsides of the capsules tighter around the seeds.

It's a bit tedious to pop each one open individually, so I was hoping someone knew an easier way.
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Old December 3, 2011   #2
wmontanez
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I save basil seed but let them dry completely and then put in a plastic baggie and crushed them with my fingers. Then I use a white bowl and drop the debris slowly blowing while the seeds drops into the bowl anything else blows away. It may need 2 or 3 times to be cleaned but I don't mind few debris left on. It works the same with onion, lettuce and chives seed.
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Old December 5, 2011   #3
b54red
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It sounds like you have seed husks that aren't quite dry enough. I skin off a bunch of them that look dry and then leave them in an open bowl inside to finish drying for a month and then just crush them between my fingers and blow the chaff away as wmontanez suggested.
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Old December 5, 2011   #4
SEAMSFASTER
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If you have quite a few to do, consider taking the project outdoors and using a blow dryer on a low setting. Very large bowls or empty 5-gallon buckets can help keep the seeds contained while the chaff blows around and away.
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Old December 5, 2011   #5
Neohippie
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Maybe they aren't dry enough. They have been sitting in an open bowl for at least a week, so I thought they were dry enough, but it has been humid lately.

I can take each individual one and pry it open with my fingernail, but if I rub them around on anything, they just roll around with the husks still tightly wrapped around the seeds within. They really don't want to come out of there easily.
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