Toasting pumpkin seeds, that hallmark of Halloween, are a ritual in our home just as it is in many American homes. We head to the pumpkin patch, a pitiful display of twenty or thirty pumpkins organized with military precision into uniform rows, but it’s all for charity – a way to spend a little extra to support the parks and rec department’s scholarship fund. We each pick out a pumpkin to carve for Halloween. My son chooses the biggest, fattest pumpkin; my husband chooses a modest round one. Me? I like the pumpkins with wizened and gnarled stems.
We choose our pumpkins, bring them home and admire them before slicing them open and scooping out the seeds. Try as might, I can never seem to clean each pumpkin thoroughly. There’s always spoonfuls of stringy pumpkin guts clinging to their interior walls. But beauty lies in imperfection. While my son loves the jack o’ lanterns’ naïve, spooky faces, the pumpkin seeds themselves are my prize, and each year I season them a bit differently. (Click here to go straight to the recipe).
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It’s a long tradition in my family, just as I imagine it’s a long tradition in yours as well. One of my earliest memories is that of toasting pumpkin seeds. I couldn’t have been more than five or six at the time, and we carved out the pumpkins. My mother flavored the seeds with oil, cayenne and seasoning salt and roasted them in a hot oven until their spicy, earthy scent filled our home. I ate as many toasted pumpkin seeds as I could – until my tongue burned with the heat of cayenne. They’re even better than candy corn, you know.
Of course, if you raise your child like I do mine – avoiding candy and sugary sweets where you can, perhaps you should let the Candy Fairy know she should visit your home Halloween night. She’ll whisk away all that nasty candy – the tootsie rolls and jawbreakers, the lollipops and caramels, the pixie sticks and twizzlers – leaving behind a special toy she knows your children will positively love. She visits our house a few times a year – after Valentine’s Day and Easter, and sometimes after friends’ birthday parties. Or pack up all those sweets and visit your dentist – he or she might just buy that candy at one or two dollars per pound. In our home, we steer Halloween celebrations away from candy and sweets toward costumes, spooky stories, cultural history, pumpkin carving and, of course, toasting pumpkin seeds.
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Pumpkin seeds are a beautiful food – earthy in flavor and rich in nutrients, particularly trace minerals. Just a single ounce of roasted pumpkin seeds contains about a quarter of the required daily value for iron, a third for both magnesium and phosphorus and nearly 42% of the required daily value for manganese1. Pumpkin seeds are also rich in zinc and vitamin K1. Of course, without proper preparation, all those minerals do surprisingly little good. Pumpkin seeds are extraordinarily rich in phytic acid2, an antinutrient that binds minerals in the digestive tract preventing your body from fully absorbing these vital micronutrients.
Of course, proper preparation of all seeds, nuts, legumes, beans and grains including pumpkin seeds helps to mitigate the effects of these mineral-blocking antinutrients, enabling your body to better absorb the full complement of minerals contained in these wholesome, natural foods. The simple tasks of soaking (as called for in this recipe), souring or sprouting facilitates the degradation of antinutrients in cereal grains3 as well as nuts, seeds and legumes, making these foods that much better for you. The Weston A Price Foundation, a nutritional advocacy group, recommends a long period of soaking coupled with roasting to improve the nutritive value of pumpkin seeds2.
Beyond a high mineral content, pumpkin seeds offer further benefit. The seed is rich in the amino acid L-tryptophan4. Tryptophan shows some promise in the treatment of anxiety disorders, and a recent pilot study analyzed the effects of tryptophan derived from gourds, like pumpkin, and found that a treatment coupling tryptophan-rich gourd seed with carbohydrates significantly improved anxiety levels among the subjects over a period of just two weeks5. The same researchers also found that Tryptophan-rich seeds coupled with carbohydrates also reduced insomnia and waking time in the night6.
Toasted Pumpkin Seeds with Chili and Lime
Crunchy, salty and spicy with a hint of acidity, these toasted pumpkin seeds are a favorite treat at Halloween. Of course, don’t leave toasted pumpkin seeds to Halloween alone; rather, toast the seeds of any winter squash, eliminating kitchen waste and providing wholesome, nourishing snacks for your family.
Ingredients
- seeds from one large pumpkin (about 1 cup)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon unrefined sea salt, divided.
- 1 egg white
- 2 tablespoons melted butter or clarified butter (see sources)
- zest of two limes
- up to 1 tablespoon chili powder
Equipment
- whisk
- mixing bowl
- parchment paper
- baking sheet
Method
- Clean the pumpkin seeds, removing any extraneous pumpkin flesh or strings from them, give them a good rinse then cover them in warm water plus one teaspoon unrefined sea salt for eighteen to twenty-four hours. After they’ve soaked for up to twenty-four hours, rinse them, drain them and pat them dry.
- Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Whisk the white of one egg and one-half teaspoon unrefined sea salt together until frothy, then stir in two tablespoons melted butter, the zest of two limes and up to one tablespoon chili powder.
- Toss cleaned and rinsed pumpkin seeds in the mixture of egg white, salt, butter and spices until all the seeds are thoroughly coated.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the pumpkin seeds in a single layer.
- Bake in an oven preheated to 450 degrees Fahrenheit for approximately seven minutes, stirring about half-way through.
YIELD: about one cup.
TIME: eighteen to twenty-four hours (soaking), five minutes (preparation), seven minutes (bake time)
VARIATIONS: substitute cinnamon, allspice and ginger for chili powder and lime zest, or try curry powder or any other spices of your preferences.
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1. Nutritiondata.com, 2. Nagel. Living with Phytic Acid. Wise Traditions Journal. Spring 2010. 3. Gibson et al. Improving the bioavailability of nutrients in plant foods at the household level. Proceedings of the Nutrition Society. May 2006. 4. Nutrient Data Laboratory. USDA.com 5. Hudson et al. Protein-source tryptophan as an efficacious treatment for social anxiety disorder: a pilot study. Canadian Journal of Physiology and Pharmacology. September 2007. 6. Hudson et al. Protein source tryptophan versus pharmaceutical grade tryptophan as an efficacious treatment for chronic insomnia. Nutritional Neuroscience. April, 2005.
Thanks for this recipe…I have been toasting raw seeds for years from my Halloween pumpkins but I never knew they needed to be soaked. Does this mean I need to soak the raw pumpkin seeds that I buy at the store as well ?….Thanks…Pam Bell
I believe that soaking all seeds – pumpkin or otherwise results in improved digestibility and mineral absorption. This includes raw seeds, but seeds that have already been roasted don’t really benefit from a soaking.
I love the flavors of chili and lime together! I’ve got a recipe for chili lime almonds on my site (so addictive!) but I think I’m going to go alter it to include the egg whites to help the spices stick better.
Your pictures are amazing as always, Jenny. Thanks for the great recipe, we’re carving our pumpkins tonight.
Looking forward to seeing you soon in Philadelphia!
Love, Kel
You know, Kel, I really loathe using egg whites on their own due to their biotin-blocking avidin content; however, sometimes they’re just necessary to achieve the proper results, you know?
Can’t wait to see you too! I’m SO excited about this year’s conference.
Do you think since they’re getting baked that the avidin would still be an issue…?
OH COOL! I just looked it up and Wikipedia says this:
“Functional avidin is found only in raw egg, as the biotin avidity of the protein is destroyed by cooking.”
I’m still wary of it – even when cooked. That Wikipedia article should say, “Functional avidin is found only in raw egg, as the biotin avidity of the protein is partlydestroyed by cooking.”
WAPF indicates that certain methods are more efficacious in deactivating avidin than others:
“Egg whites contain a glycoprotein called avidin that strongly binds to biotin and prevents its absorption. Cooking neutralizes avidin, but not completely. Frying destroys 67 percent, boiling the egg white directly for two minutes destroys 60 percent, and poaching only destroys 29 percent.49 Raw egg whites, then, should be strictly avoided, and cooked egg whites should be consumed in moderation—and never without the yolk. The addition of pure egg yolks to smoothies and ice cream will help boost biotin status.” (http://www.westonaprice.org/childrens-health/1380-vitamins-for-fetal-development-conception-to-birth.html)
But there’s also evidence that fertilized eggs are naturally lower in avidin. At any rate, I’m always a little uncomfortable eating dishes with egg white, cooked or but especially raw. I make exceptions when it just doesn’t work otherwise like spiced nuts and seeds.
Good scoop, Jenny, I hadn’t read all that. I just popped back over because my seeds are done soaking & I’m making these now… Wonder why I’m not getting notified of any new comments here, maybe I was supposed to click something I missed…?
Anyway, I’ll be enjoying some of these very soon!
I just used a beautiful little pumpkin for pumpkin custard, and had been debating on what to do with the seeds. Looks like their fate has finally been decided.
Thanks for the great tips in this recipe – I didn’t know how to solve the mystery of all the spices ending up on the cookie sheet instead of the seeds. I also didn’t know about soaking them – although I’ve been soaking my grains for a while now.
Now, if only it were the weekend so I had time to get these little guys in the oven!
I think if you give the seeds a good cleaning, rinse them well and pat them dry, they should stay in the refrigerator for about three days, or so. I LOVE pumpkin custard – we do it both savory and sweet and it is one of our favorite autumn and winter dishes.
Hi Jenny,
Could you post the recipe for the pumpkin custard! Please! It sounds YUM!!! Thanks so much!
Pumpkin custard with molasses: http://nourishedkitchen.com/pumpkin-molasses-custard/ YUM!
Jenny,
Wouldn’t the seeds be okay if they air dried for a few days – like a slow dehydration process? I’m hoping so, because I had some seeds from an acorn squash sitting in a colander on the counter this week and planned to do something with them today. I was thrilled to find your chili-lime recipe – I love ANYTHING with lime!
Pumpkin custard? Is that a sharable recipe?
Yum a gazillion times over!! I am definitely making these.
Yum! Thanks so much for the information on how to roast the seeds.
In years past, I have always keep them with the best of intentions, but have yet to successfully manage to do anything with them. This year will be different!
sounds yummy and thank you for the details so the kiddos and I can make these! Also LOVE the candy fairy idea lol
I roast pumpkin seeds on the same baking sheets my mom did when we were kids. I never knew how incredible seasoned baking sheets were until she passed hers on to me. If the candy fairy were to visit my house (great idea by the way), she would leave these amazing blog posts for me to wake up to. Such a gift!
Wow – sounds amazing! This was the first year I ever tried roasting pumpkin seeds, and I loved them – I am going to have to soak them next time, though. Thanks for all the great health information!
Jenny,
Have you ever sprouted pumpkin seeds? I saved half of mine after soaking to sprout, but after 5 days nothing is happening yet. I’m starting to wonder if they need to lie dormant for a winter first – I’m not waiting that long! Thanks – Katie
Thank you for posting this! Do you have any information or opinion about whether there is any benefit of soaking the seeds immediately after carving vs. letting them dry for a couple of days before soaking?
Yum, I’ve got my seeds soaking right now! Can I post the recipe on my blog and link to yours? I’m fairly new to “real” food and every day I’m learning more and trying to spread the knowledge. Love your blog!!
There is just something wrong with selling your candy to dentists…
I LOVE fresh toasted pumpkin seeds. You’ve inspired me to get fancy with them now. And your photos are absolutely beautiful. If I could hang this post on my wall, I would!
I know I’m a year and 1/2 late or so…but this sounds amazing! I had some raw pumpkin seeds I had bought thinking I was going to add them to salads…then figured out…I really don’t like the taste of raw pumpkin seeds.
I just thought back to when I was a kid during Halloween tonight and was reminiscing when my mom used to make them. Simply with salt. Yum!
It just so happens that I have been soaking mine for 24 hours…I will have to try this recipe, but I don’t have like 1/2 the ingredients. So I improvised. I used egg white, salt, cayenne, and added some honey. They came out sweet, salty, and a bit spicaaay.
Thank you Jenny for the info about avidin, I have never thought about that!
Woah, I must be really tired. It’s only 2011, not 2012. Gee. I guess I’m only a 1/2 year late. Haha!