The first stage is pretty obvious. Soak them in water for a few hours, rinse and pick out all the fleshy bits, then dry them.
Where I'm struggling is the next step after this. I've tried roasting them without peeling, but the texture is like cardboard (good flavor though!). Another idea is to blend them into a powder and use them in soups and stews. This can be done with or without roasting I guess.
The option I would actually like is to peel the seeds to eat them raw. I've tried this with individual seeds and they're absolutely delicious. But it would be a huge pain to peel an entire batch of them by hand... Is there any trick to this that I'm missing?
Watching this post, because its about time to crack open our big pumpkin and get the seeds out for cooking, and we're going to make pumpkin pasta with butter sage permesian sauce, so I've got big plans for this pumpkin.
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Boiling them for a few minutes can soften the shells slightly and make peeling easier. Boiling can surely make the job easier, but it’s still a bit time-consuming...
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Part of it depends on the variety of pumpkins. Our family farmer (CSA) does smaller pie pumpkins whose seeds are green and tender, and can be eaten whole. I suspect this is very similar to the kind of pumpkin seeds that are sold commercially. I don't roast them - just use them fresh in baked goods.
I don't have the variety name, unfortunately, but if I had the room to grow pumpkins, that's the kind I'd get.
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