Tasty Seeds

Some while ago, when my sister was out at the farm and we were making dinner, I sliced into a fall squash and she remarked that I should toast the seeds as I baked the rest of the squash. I had forgotten all about saving the seeds for nibbling and had been sending them out to the barn with the rest of the vegetable scraps since the cows enjoy then so much.

She plucked them out of the container and washed them of their slimy residue in a colander before spreading them thin on a baking sheet. Fifteen minutes at 350 degrees was all it took for the seeds to be roasted to perfection (about an hour before the squash had cooked through).

The roasted seeds were a special treat and we ate them shell and all since they were very tender. Pumpkin or very tough winter squash seeds may not be so tender but these were perfect just the way they came out of the oven. It got me to thinking why the step of washing off all the squash squishy insides were a necessity. So I tried it another way.

I cut up a squash and scooped out all the seeds and manually pulled out the stringy bits that held the seeds together, then rather than wash the slippery residue,left it on to flavor the seeds as they toasted. I sprinkled just a bit of sea salt on them just before setting into the hot oven.

If the seeds don’t get eaten right away, I store them on the kitchen counter in an airtight container. They get nibbled away quickly and I don’t have them around for long.

Thanks sis for reminding me of the forgotten toasted seeds!