It feels wrong to throw the inner mass of the pumpkin fruit, including the seeds, into the compost. That doesn't have to be the case, because pumpkin seeds are edible and provide seeds for your own cultivation. A few tricks help with the harvest.
How to harvest pumpkin seeds correctly?
To harvest pumpkin seeds, the pumpkin should be ripe with the stem dried out. Remove the seeds from the meat with a spoon, pull them out of the villi one by one, put them in water, skim off any seeds that rise up and let them dry. Stored in a cool, dark place, they will last up to a year.
Edible pumpkin seeds
In general, all pumpkin seeds are edible. In most species the seeds are protected by a shell. These have to be peeled before consumption, which is complex and takes time. The Styrian oil pumpkin is a variety of garden pumpkin. Due to a mutation, the seed coat does not become woody when the fruit ripens. It develops shellless kernels that are surrounded by a thin, dark green outer skin.
Maturity determination
The degree of ripeness of the pumpkins provides information about the perfect time to harvest pumpkin seeds. Pumpkin is usually harvested when the outer skin is firm and no longer has any green spots. At this point the seeds are usually not yet ripe. To determine their stage of maturity, you should look at the base of the stem. If it has dried out and become woody, the perfect harvest time has come. Pumpkins that are harvested too early can be ripened. If you don't want to grow pumpkins, seed maturity plays a minor role.
Getting seeds for consumption
You can split particularly large specimens such as nutmeg pumpkin or Hubbard by dropping them from a height of one meter onto a hard surface. Smaller varieties such as butternut should be baked in the oven at 150 degrees for 40 minutes. This softens the shell so that the pumpkin can be easily opened with a knife. You can get around 100 grams of dried seeds from one pumpkin fruit.
How to remove seeds:
- Remove the seeds from the meat with a spoon
- Pull seeds out of the villi one at a time with your fingers
- Pour the dissolved mixture into a bowl with warm water, stir and skim off any floating seeds
- Blow-dry the pumpkin seeds and fibers with a hairdryer and sort out the dried pulp
Tip
Wash your harvest thoroughly and place it on a kitchen paper towel. The pumpkin seeds dry in a cool, dark place so that they can then be stored in the refrigerator for up to a year.
