This year I have been experimenting with growing pumpkins for seeds. My friend Deano (see his great blog over at The Sustainable Smallholding) kindly gave me some seeds earlier in the year. Originally, they were intended for High Bank, but various things got in the way, so I ended up growing some of them here,
Seeds out of the pumpkin
The seeds are ‘naked’ and therefore can be consumed whole. Apparently the flesh of these pumpkins is not quite as tasty as others, but is still quite acceptable. I haven’t eaten any yet, so I can’t comment. The fruit were harvested last week and today I have removed the seeds from one of the small ones. It’s a bit of a fiddle to extract the seeds from the stringy interior, but nothing goes to waste as the ‘debris’ is popular with chickens.
Pumpkin seeds ready for drying
I think, that a slightly more mature fruit would be easier to handle and the separation of the seeds would be more straightforward, but it didn’t take me too long to get a tray of seeds ready for drying. I intend to put them in the top of the oven once it’s been switched off but is still warm from cooking other things. Once dry, the seeds can be stored for later use – roasted and salted, fried or added to bread.
So, thanks to Perkin for the inspiration and to Deano for the seeds… let’s hope they taste good!
The Snail of Happiness 
Andrea
/ October 19, 2013I bought a packet of naked seeds when I was at Ragmans, got them home, and then never saw them again! Interested to see how they turn out, as I’ve always thought they sound fabulous.
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The Snail of Happiness
/ October 19, 2013I will certainly report back… at least they look good!
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Nice piece of work
/ October 20, 2013I thought pumpkin seeds were just pumpkin seeds, now you tell me some are ‘naked’ and some aren’t!
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The Snail of Happiness
/ October 20, 2013And I can now report that the home-grown naked ones taste much more pumpkin-y than store bought ones!
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A Life Less Simple
/ November 6, 2013Any ideas where I could find seeds for these in the UK? Would really love to give them a try also
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The Snail of Happiness
/ November 6, 2013Chiltern seeds sell them… they are a great source of unusual varieties and their catalogue is a really good read! They call them ‘pumpkin nuts’.
The variety ‘Lady Godiva’ is available from the organic catalogue.
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A Life Less Simple
/ November 8, 2013Thank you, they are out of stock right now so will keep checking and hope they have a fresh supply in soon
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