The warm, dry summer really messed with food-growing, and I was surprised to see an abundance of pumpkins earlier this month when we went apple picking. Thankfully, it was feeling more like fall than summer that day, and those pumpkins made me think of soup. So soup I made, and lots of it.
Which left me with the seeds, and that left me with some questions. I’ve roasted pumpkin seeds loads of times, and though I love the idea of them, I never managed to make them truly delicious. They were always partly overcooked, or too mushy, or mealy, or not crunchy enough, and never, ever tasty enough.
And then I found these instructions for making roasted pumpkin seeds that are infused with salty goodness.
So I boiled the seeds in saltwater before I baked them, and they turned out perfect. Perfect, I tell you. They’re very salty, which is how I love my snacks. I dusted them with paprika and smoked paprika before baking for a hint of colour and smokiness.
Gutting pumpkins is a total slimy pain in the ass, but I’ll happily spend another few hours creating a sticky mess all over my kitchen for a shot to make several more batches of perfect roasted seeds.