Tips on Roasting Pumpkin Seeds
In the fall, when you start to see those bright orange pumpkins at farm stands, you know that the time for roasting pumpkin seeds is here. While some people buy pumpkins to carve for Halloween, to decorate their yards or to make pies, many never take advantage of this ready-made opportunity for roasting pumpkin seeds.
It’s really a big waste to scoop out the insides of a pumpkin and then throw it all away. The seeds in the pulp are little nuggets of nutrition and tasty too. If you have never tried roasting pumpkins seeds, give it a try this autumn. Not only is it an easy thing to do, pumpkin seeds taste great. Some people even have recipes which add spices and flavorings to the seeds before they are toasted.
When it comes to roasting pumpkins seeds, some people do it with the shells left on the seeds while others remove them either before roasting or before eating. If you want to leave the shells on, be sure to choose small pumpkins, such as sugar pumpkins, which are used to make pies. You will also need to boil your seeds in salt water before roasting them.
Pumpkins can be hard to open up so make sure you use a sharp knife and do it very carefully to avoid cutting yourself. No matter whether you are using your pumpkins for cooking or for carving a face, you will need to open them up and use a large metal spoon to take out the inside pulp and seeds. This is what you will use for roasting pumpkin seeds.
You will need to separate the seeds from the pulp, which is quite stringy. This isn’t hard when done under a water faucet. Just use your fingers to separate the seeds out of the pulp and put the seeds in a bowl or colander. Thoroughly wash the seeds and remove any remaining stringy pieces of pumpkin. Some people place the seeds on a paper towel or kitchen towel and leave to dry overnight. This is not critical, however, to roasting pumpkin seeds.
The next step in roasting pumpkin seeds also has a couple of options. The first is to fill a saucepan with water and salt--a good amount is two cups of water for every half-cup of pumpkin seeds, and one tablespoon of salt for each two cups of water. The speedy way is to bring the water and seeds to a full boil for ten minutes, then remove from the heat and drain out the water.
While some people use this method before roasting pumpkin seeds, others just leave the pumpkin seeds to soak in the salt water overnight. If you really like your seeds and nuts salty, you can add more salt to the water. To begin the actual roasting of your pumpkin seeds, get out a roasting pan or cookie sheet and coat the bottom with olive oil to prevent sticking.
Spread the seeds across your pan so that they are separated from one another. None should be bunched together or on top of one another. Turn your oven on to around 250 degrees and bake the pumpkin seeds for ten to twenty minutes. It is also possible to roast them on the broil setting, but you have to watch them carefully so that they don’t burn with the higher heat level. The pumpkin seeds are done when they become crispy.
There are many variations to the basic version of roasting pumpkin seeds. That’s because after you have boiled or soaked your seeds in salt, you can add any flavoring to them that you desire. Some people place the seeds in a pan with melted butter or with olive oil so seasonings can stick to the surface of the seeds. Some seasonings added before roasting pumpkin seeds include Worcestershire sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, Cajun seasonings, old bay and crab seasoning. Some people add soy sauce or hot sauce. You can also make roasted pumpkin seeds sweeter by adding sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
When roasting pumpkin seeds, many people turn the seeds over after the tops have turned brown. Others simply leave them in the oven until the whole seed is crunchy. If you don’t have the set-up to roast your pumpkin seeds in an oven or even a toaster oven, a microwave will work as well. Times are harder to approximate in a microwave so staying with the seeds is your best option. Microwave for five minutes and then continue checking at one-minute intervals until nice and crispy. Pumpkins seeds can be stored up to two or three months if you keep them in a container which is air tight. (continued...)