Toasted Pumpkin Seeds-Nutritional Value and Easy Recipe

It is that time of year, pumpkin time. So while you and your family are gutting and carving pumpkins, you might as well make a nutritious, delicious snack with the stuff you are about to throw away, the seeds. Pumpkin seeds are loaded with zinc, manganese, vitamin E, magnesium, tryptophan, protein, copper and iron. A quarter cup of pumpkin seeds has about 180 calories and is also full of fiber. Very few foods have such a wide variety of nutrients packed in such a small package. The other great thing about pumpkin seeds is, they don’t taste like pumpkin, which I especially appreciate. Even my three year old loves the taste and it is great to use everything of the food. So don’t just toss the guts, make a treat.

To toast them, first you need to separate the seeds from the goobers, as my son calls it. Next you should put the seeds in a colander and gently rub and rinse the pumpkin slime off of them. Without drying them, just put a thin layer of seeds into a baking pan. Lightly salt them and pop in the oven. For a conventional oven, let them cook for about 12-15 minutes on 350 degrees. For a convection oven, they should cook for only 7-8 minutes at the same temperature. The seeds will turn a light brown and they are done. Let them cool down and enjoy one of nature’s great snacks.

To jazz up the seeds, you could use season salt instead of regular. Sugar and cinnamon can also be added instead of salt for a change of pace. Keeping the seeds a bit damp helps to adhere the spices to the seeds, so get creative. If you have a seasoning mix that you enjoy on your seeds, please share because I am looking for other ideas.