The Damsel has thrown away many a pumpkin seed in her life. Often, after carving a jack-o-lantern, she’s faced with the pile of goobery pumpkin guts, and the seeds make her feel guilty. Wasting things, even pumpkin seeds, just feels wrong.
But touching goobery stuff feels very, very wrong too, so most of the time the Damsel squeezes her eyes shut, tries not to think about it too much, and out they go. After a few minutes, the feeling subsides.
But this year, the Damsel decided to man up and toast those seeds. Just for you, dear readers.
Put the seeds into a bowl of water, goober and all. Stir a little, and lift out the big goobers with your fingers. (Ew) This works better if the pumpkin was recently cleaned out, so the goober isn’t dried onto the seeds. If it is, you can let the seeds soak in the water a while until it loosens.
Rinse in a colander…you can rub the seeds between your palms if you want. Don’t stress about getting every little bit off. Some people even purposely leave a few strings of goober on the seeds because they like the taste after it’s toasted.
The Damsel then spread her seeds out and let them dry for a few hours, because they accidentally soaked in water overnight. But this isn’t strictly necessary.
From here you can do several things. Here’s just one suggestion: Mix a little melted butter and olive oil with some seasoned salt, and then toss with the seeds in a bowl. It doesn’t take much for one pumpkin’s worth of seeds (about 1/2 cup seeds). Maybe a teaspoon total oil/butter, and 1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt. Or, you can go sweet, with cinnamon and nutmeg instead of seasoned salt. Whatever you like.
Spread out on a foil-lined cookie sheet and bake, 400 deg. F., for about 15 minutes or until golden brown.
Yum! Not bad for a pretty-much-free snack, with the additional benefit of guilt-reduction.
Mmmm. My husband loves toasted pumpkin seeds. Our pumpkins are currently still guarding our front door.
[...] toasting pumpkin seeds [...]
My kids have been bugging me to toast the pumpkin seeds this year. We did not carve our pumpkins we just decorated the outside so I guess since they have the day off tomorrow now is the time! I think I am gonna make the do the slimy though. It kinda grosses me out. Thanks for this post and I am also gonna make the puree! Thanks again.
let me know how it goes! I know, I know, the slimey. **shudder