Instructions

1. Split the sunflower seeds the way the list does before you start: the larger share becomes the coating and the smaller share becomes the stick. Grind the lot at once and you have nothing dry left to roll in.
2. Grind the coating portion to a fine dry meal and spread it on a wide plate. It wants a shallow layer with plenty of surface, because you are rolling sticks across it rather than dipping them into it.
3. Blend the lemon juice, garlic, Nama Shoyu and the remaining seeds until smooth and until a pinch holds together when pressed. A mixture that will not hold in your hand will slump on the tray.
4. Take a spoonful at a time and roll it against your palm into a stick around 9.5 cm long. Keep them all to one length and keep them narrow, because a fat stick will not dry through even on a run this long.
5. Roll each stick through the ground seed until no wet surface is showing. That dry coat is what stops them welding to the sheet and to each other.
6. Move them with a palette knife rather than your fingers and set them down with a gap between. They are fragile until the outside firms up.
7. Dehydrate at 38 °C for 21 hours. This is the lowest setting and the longest run on the site, and both are the point — pushing the temperature up to save time stops it being a raw food.
8. They are finished when the outside is dry and faintly sandy while the middle still gives under a squeeze. Break one open to be sure: the centre should look moist and hold together rather than being wet or crumbly.
9. Serve them warm with marinara, and keep the rest sealed in the fridge for five days. There is fresh garlic and fresh lemon juice in these and no preservative at all, so they are not a pantry snack.