Supplies for Roasting Pumpkin Seeds

Series Summary

Nothing says Halloween like carving a pumpkin to make a jack-o-lantern, and what better to accompany your Halloween crafts than roasted pumpkin seeds. This traditional fall treat, similar to sunflower seeds, can be seasoned and spread on a pan to be oven roasted and eaten as a snack. Unlike the candy that will surely be consumed Halloween night, pumpkin seeds are actually quite healthy. They are a good source of iron, zinc, essential fatty acids, potassium and magnesium, and may also promote prostate health.

In this free video series you'll learn how to make your own homemade roasted pumpkin seeds. Our expert will demonstrate how to clean, season and roast pumpkin seeds. This delicious treat is a great way to use your whole Halloween pumpkin. Be sure to let the kids help remove and clean the seeds and orange pumpkin goo, as most kids (and adults) will agree that playing with pumpkin guts is usually the funnest part of the whole process for making roast pumpkin seeds.

Video Transcript

"Hi! This is Jenny with Simply Beautiful Crafts on behalf of Expert Village, and today we're going to do one my favorite things about Halloween: we're going to roast pumpkin seeds. Yum-yum. The first step to roasting pumpkin seeds is of course, to gather your supplies. Naturally, the most important thing you're going to need is a pumpkin. You want a nice size pumpkin. The bigger the pumpkin the more the seeds. One that is good and ripe, sounds hollow, and not too green. Otherwise, your seeds won't be as flavorful. Of course, you've got your pumpkin, and then you will want a good strong sturdy knife, a heavy duty knife. As you know, pumpkin seeds can be very tough. You'll also want a good strong metal spoon to scoop the seeds out with. Then you will want a variety of different supplies depending on how you're going to roast your seeds. You will want to have a nice size bowl full of water to put your seeds in and a colander. When you've cleaned your seeds you'll want to rinse them in a colander. Then you'll want a sauce pan with water if you're going to boil them in salt. And you may want to roast them in a heavy-duty frying pan, or you may simply want to toast them in either a roasting pan or cookie sheet. Some people like to dry theirs in a dehydrator or over night. If you have one of those it comes in very handy, but it is not necessary in order to have good pumpkin seeds. flavor your pumpkin seeds. You'll want to have some kind of salt if you're going to boil them in salt water or even if you're just going to sprinkle them on the seeds, and either some cooking oil, olive oil, butter, peanut oil, sesame oil or some kind of coating for the bottom of your pan. And then you can experiment with a variety of spices and seasonings for you pumpkin seeds. I also like to use a wooden spoon in order to stir them when they're toasting. And that's about all you need in supplies to get ready to toast your pumpkin seeds. Happy toasting!"