5 Delicious Ways to Eat Pumpkin Seeds
Chopping up a pumpkin means being exposed to a mass of fibrous pulp and seeds that can be easily overwhelming, especially when kids are involved. But before you throw the entire contents of the pumpkin into the trash, you should know that the seeds can be easily used for a number of recipes.
Pumpkin seeds are a nutrient rich source of healthy fats, fiber, protein, and nutrients such as iron, manganese, zinc, and folate. They are also one of the best natural sources of magnesium, with one ounce containing 37% of the RDA.
How to prepare pumpkin seeds
Before we get into some of the recipes, you should also know that seed preparation is not as labor intensive as you might fear. The hardest part is removing the pulp, which can be greatly simplified by adding about ½ cup salt to the combined seeds. The salt turns the pulp into a sticky mass, which helps it slide off immediately. After the seeds are cleaned, you must wash them thoroughly and let them dry.
You may also notice that pumpkin seed recipes include baking, steeping, or sprouting them. This is because pumpkin seeds are high in phytic acid , which can reduce your body’s ability to absorb certain nutrients such as calcium, zinc, and iron.
You won’t get pepita if you peel pumpkin seeds.
You should also be aware that the pepitas you buy from the supermarket and the pumpkin seeds you get when you carve pumpkin are not the same thing. Most people think that pepitas are simply pumpkin seeds with the shell removed. However, if you try to remove the shells from pumpkin seeds (which I don’t recommend as this is a huge pain in the ass), you won’t find these tasty little green nuggets inside, but rather light green crumbly seeds. …
Instead, pepitas, which is only found in certain types of pumpkin, develops without a shell. But they’re still nutritious pumpkin seeds and can be used in any of these recipes.