help with basil seed cleaning

Patty from Yorktown 7/28/2010, 8:50 pm

One of my summer goals has been to learn to save seeds. I am doing alright with cucumbers, a few herbs, beans, peas, some lettuce, a few flowers and a weird berry. I am stuck on how do I clean basil seeds. I have the seeds dry and mostly off the stems. I have run them through my kitchen strainer a few times to remove loose, dry plant matter. It is not enough. I have tried blowing on the seeds, but I seem to also be blowing away the seeds. I would like to trade some of my seeds, but right now they are too messy. Please send some suggestions my way. Thanks.

Patty in Yorktown

Chopper 7/29/2010, 3:39 pm

Is the matter loose or part of the seed? You could try a cardboard box top at an angle and let the heavy stuff roll down as you move it with a ruler or something. Won't tell you how I learned that and I am not sure if the debris or the seeds are heavier for basil.

**camprn** 7/29/2010, 3:46 pm

Chopper wrote:Is the matter loose or part of the seed? You could try a cardboard box top at an angle and let the heavy stuff roll down as you move it with a ruler or something. Won't tell you how I learned that and I am not sure if the debris or the seeds are heavier for basil.

+1

LOL. Or you could live with the small amount of plant debris in the bunch of seeds, Basil seed is so small that it may be difficult to do otherwise.

Icemaiden 7/29/2010, 6:01 pm

The third idea here might work perhaps?
http://www.carnivorousplants.org/seedbank/CleaningSeeds.htm

Patty from Yorktown 7/29/2010, 7:01 pm

Hi,
Thanks for the help. The web site gave two things to try. The obvious is a smaller stainer (should have looked into that earlier)and two pieces of paper. The seeds are mixed with small plant bits. The seeds are mostly out of the seed "pods." I was able to get more seeds out of the extra stuff by crushing it and shaking the strainer. I pitched the larger chunks. I will report back in a few days on how the smaller strainer and paper works. I hope to have sweet basil, purple basil and lime basil to trade. I might even try the spicy globe basil, however I might not get the timing right on that one. Again thanks for the help.

Patty in wet Yorktown

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