Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Per Farmers Almanac Pumpkins are fruit, due in no small part to the yummy seeds hiding inside.

So when Pumpkin carving season rolls around these are a welcome treat for anyone elbow deep in Pumpkin guts.

You can do this far faster but I like to make this an overnight job. Partly because these seeds need to be bone dry to roast properly and party because once I'm done carving I'm grateful for a little time away from all things pumpkin.

Start by gutting a pumpkin, the fresher the pumpkin the easier this will be. I usually just use a large spoon to separate the goo from the inside layer of rind and then plop the whole mess into a large bowl.

Separating the seed from the goo is easier than you'd think. Just fill the bowl with water and the fleshy parts will sink to the bottom leaving the seeds floating on top. Just scoop them out and let them dry on a paper towel.

I like to leave them dry overnight so that they don't get steamed when I pop them in the oven.

If the seeds are small/medium it's fine to leave the rind on, for larger ones you might want to shell them (I'll try that next year).

Once your ready to roast them set the oven to 400 F and while that's warming up throw the seeds into a ziploc bag with some olive oil and a little salt (to draw out any water that's still in there).

Coat the seeds and then drop them onto a baking sheet.

Cook from 5 - 20 mins. Smaller, shelled seeds will only take 5 minutes. These ones took closer to 25 since they were so big and still had their shells on.

Once they're a nice golden brown pull them out of the oven and sprinkle with a generous amount of salt.

Happy Snacking!