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Roasted Pumpkin Seeds on a Cedar Plank

Roasted pumpkin seeds. One of the my favourite fall treats.

Here we are on the last day of October. Each season has it's own beauty, but I particularly love turning the pages of my calendar to welcome in fall. Nature's changing colours, the crunching of leaves under foot, pumpkin spice lattes, corn maze and pumpkin farm fun with our grandchildren, the last camping of the year, evenings around the crackling bon fire, and roasted pumpkin seeds....a crunchy salty treat that bring back childhood memories. 

In order to enjoy some of these tasty little seeds you'll need to go and find yourself a pumpkin.
Who knew that inside a pumpkin awaits a nutritional treat.

It's actually quite simple to roast pumpkin seeds, so I'll just show you the few steps. Cut the top off your pumpkin and scooped out all the little seeds, trying to leave behind as much of the slimy stringy stuff. 

Place the seeds into a deep bowl and add tap water. Seeds will float to top and the little bits of the slimy stringy stuff that remained amongst the seeds will sink. While this separation process is happening, take a few minutes to put a smile on your pumpkin. 

Using a slotted spoon skim out the cleaned seeds floating on top of the water and place in a colander to drain. Dab dry with some paper towel....they will still be a bit slippery and wet feeling, but that's fine.  Next,  pour the cleaned seeds into a bowl and very sparingly drizzle with olive oil and stir around. Salt generously. I used a specialty salt  called Sabrosa this time, but regular table salt or sea salt work well. You can also be adventuresome and add others spices.

 When I was a kid my mom roasted pumpkin seeds on a cookie sheet in the oven which I have typically done as well  but this time we used decided to soak a cedar plank and roast them on the plank on our Big Green Egg grill. While the grill was heating to 350ยบ I made a little foil 'fence' so the seeds would stay on the plank when I stirred them during the roasting. I placed the oiled and salt seasoned seeds on the soaked plank and placed the plank on the grill. I set my timer for 10 minute intervals and gave the seeds a stir each time I checked on them.
Baking seeds on a cedar plank takes approximately 25-35 minutes. The last 15 minutes check them every 3-4 minutes to make sure they don't burn.

The inside of a pumpkin seed actually bakes faster than the outside, so once they begin to turn golden, you have to watch them carefully. During the last 10 minutes of roasting taste test to make sure the insides are not burnt tasting. This is the only tricky part to these crispy little treats turning out to perfection.
Once roasted, remove plank from grill and slide roasted seeds off  plank and allow to cool to a crunch.

I can almost guarantee there will be none left to store, but if there are, store in a glass airtight container.

5 comments:

  1. Fantastic idea! Now you can munch them while watching the World Series? I must try this sometime.

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    1. Good morning Rosella:) We have been....but one thing I didn't mention in the post is they are really high in calories...and hard to stop at just a few. Good thing pumpkins aren't available all year through. Enjoy this last day of October.

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  2. Perhaps this would be considered a silly question - but I've always wondered if you eat the whole thing or if you need to work at "shelling" them like you do a roasted sunflower seed to eat the inside only?

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    Replies
    1. Hi Ruth, no question is silly....just eat them as is. No need to shell. I hope you try and enjoy. Remember you can easily do this on a baking sheet in the oven as well.

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  3. These were great. Did them in the oven on stoneware with avocado oil and Herbamare salt.

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