Happy Halloween! I bet you have a pumpkin to carve. My favorite thing about pumpkin carving is toasting the seeds. For years I’ve carefully cleaned, washed, and dried the seeds, then tried to roast them to an edible texture. The taste was great, but I never had a perfect balance between crunch and, well, tree bark. Now I have the solution and you can enjoy perfectly toasted seeds that are a snap to make. This is more of a tutorial than a recipe so here goes.
Clean your pumpkin, pulling out the seeds. I dumped mine into a colander, removing as much of the pumpkin “guts” as I could. Now here’s the trick that I learned from an old pro: boil them! That’s how you make them salty, crispy and tender enough to eat. Put the seeds in a saucepan and cover with cold water. Add abouta Tbsp of salt per cup of water and bring to a boil. Boil for 10 minutes. While the seeds boil, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Put a tsp of olive oil and a Tbsp of butter in a rimmed baking sheet and put in the oven as it preheats to melt the butter. Drain the seeds in a colander and give them a good shake to dry. Add the seeds to the pan with melted butter and spread them out. Bake for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. Drain on paper towels and enjoy.
It’s definitely a nice salty snack before you tie into all of that unclaimed Halloween candy. Enjoy and have a spooky day!
