How to Make Homemade Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Its that time of year when pumpkins are growing and pumkins are decorated for Halloween. Generally, people rush to decorate these goodies and then throw them away wasting some of the best thing in nature: pumpkin and pumpkin seeds.

Pumpkin seeds are reputed to be high in zinc and also helpful to prevent prostaste cancer in men. Year after year, we run to the store for cans of pumpkin mush to make those delicious pies, all the while throwing away perfectly good pumpkins. Hahhh? Does that really make sense? Why not harvest the goodies? On this web site: Pumpkin patches and more I found some really good instructions, (easy to follow) on how to roast your own pumpkin seeds.

Here is another quick and easy recipe for roasting your own pumpkin seeds from ehow.com.

How to Bake Pumpkin Seeds

By an eHow Contributor

Very few fruits are as versatile as the pumpkin. You can make pumpkin pie, pumpkin soup or pumpkin bread; you can make a lantern out of the non eatable parts for Halloween and you can even bake the seeds and eat them as a snack. This eHow will instruct you on how to best bake pumpkin seeds.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Fresh pumpkin seeds
• Vegetable oil or cooking spray
• Salt
• Kitchen knife
• Baking sheet
• Paper towel
• Spatula

Suggest Edits

1. • 1
     Separate the seeds of a freshly carved pumpkin from the stringy membrane. Rinse the seeds just until they are free of any membrane matter.
   • 2
     Heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
   • 3
     Put the seeds on a paper towel and let them dry for a few minutes.
   • 4
     Spray a baking sheet with butter-flavored nonstick cooking spray or brush with a light coating of vegetable oil. Put the seeds on the baking sheet in a single layer, turning to coat lightly with the spray or the oil. Sprinkle the seeds lightly with salt, if desired.
   • 5
     Put the baking sheet in the oven. Cook the seeds for 10 to 20 minutes, or until brown and slightly crisp, turning once. Allow to cool before eating.
   • 6
     Store seeds in an airtight container.

Tips & Warnings

• Pumpkin seeds can be eaten with the outer shell on or off.
• For a saltier treat, boil the pumpkin seeds in heavily salted water for ten minutes, then bake them.
• Also try additional seasonings on your seeds: Cajun seasoning, Worcestershire sauce, and garlic salt are some possibilities.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish