Directions on Dehydrating Pumpkin Seeds

Dehydrated pumpkin seeds contain preserved nutrition.

Dehydrating pumpkin seeds at the proper temperature will preserve the seeds for storage and save some nutrients that would otherwise get baked away during roasting. The seeds contain a beneficial enzyme, but they also have an enzyme inhibitor that prevents the body from absorbing it. The enzyme inhibitor is extracted by soaking before heat dehydrating. The added moisture from soaking makes it necessary to dehydrate pumpkin seeds longer. Soaking and dehydrating will preserve pumpkin seeds and their nutrition.

Things You'll Need

• Serving spoon
• Colander, strainer or sprout screen
• Filtered water
• Sea salt
• Dehydrator, or baking pan and conventional oven

Instructions

1. Remove the seeds from the inside of a fresh pumpkin by scraping the hull with a serving spoon. Rinse the extracted seeds in a colander and pull off all the pulp.

2. Pour the seeds into a glass jar or bowl and cover with filtered water. Pour in 2 tbsp. of sea salt and stir until salt dissolves. Leave the pumpkin seeds soaking in a warm part of the home such as the top of the refrigerator for at least seven hours.

3. Drain the seeds in a colander or strainer or on a sprout screen. Rinse off the brine if desired.

4. Remove the inner seeds from the husks if desired. You can preserve pumpkin seeds in the shells or out.

5. Lay the seeds into a dehydrator, or on a baking sheet in a single layer. Dehydrate pumpkin seeds at 100 to 110 degrees F in a dehydrator. Use the lowest heat setting available if you're putting the seeds into a conventional oven. Let the seeds heat for 24 hours. Heat for a longer period if necessary to get the pumpkin completely dry.

Tips & Warnings

• Dehydrating pumpkin seeds in a conventional oven will kill the enzymes with the higher heat, but soaking will still remove the enzyme inhibitors which interfere with digestion of other elements. Oven dehydration will still preserve the pumpkin seeds for future consumption.

References

• The Nourishing Gourmet: Soaking Nuts
• GNOWFGLINS: How and Why to Soak and Dehydrate Nuts and Seeds