Fall is here, which means that Halloween is just around the corner. One of my favorite Halloween activities is carving pumpkins! After the jack-o-lanterns are carved and sitting on your front porch, what should you do with the seeds? There are all sorts of possibilities for these little hidden gems. Here’s a round-up of all the usual, and not so usual, ways to use those pumpkin seeds!
- Pumpkin Nook has a good recipe for roasted pumpkin seeds. They give you lots of different flavor variations that would be fun to play with and the rest of the site is fun to explore for other pumpkin related recipes.
- Choosing Raw gives an excellent recipe for pumpkin milk using the seeds. Pumpkin milk is a delicious, nutritious alternative to dairy milk that is perfect for the season.
- Fran’s House of Ayurveda shows us how to make pumpkin butter using the seeds. You can use pumpkin butter the way you would any other nut butter and it is great for those with nut allergies.
- Finally, Epicurious makes my mouth water with this tasty looking recipe for pumpkin seed brittle.
You can also use the pumpkin pulp or “guts.” Here are two bonus recipes showing you how to do so:
- On Leon’s Beauty Tips and Secrets, there is an easy recipe for the face that utilizes the pulp or “guts” of the pumpkin.
- Over on Dianasaur Dishes, you can find a great recipe for pumpkin “gut” bread. Fantastic idea!
What are you planning on doing with the inside of your pumpkins?
[Image credit: by One Tree Hill Studios via Flickr Creative Commons]
thanks for the recipes 🙂 will check them out
Keep in mind that the giant, round pumpkins grown to be carved aren’t always great for eating – they’re not very fleshy or seedy and what is there, doesn’t always taste as good as it might.
We always try to use up the seeds & flesh anyway (“gut” soup, roasted seeds) but are careful to not expect too much from them and also avoid using them in combination with a lot of expensive ingredients in case the whole thing is a failure.
I kind of ONLY use the big old Jack-o-Lantern pumpkins. They’re easy to find locally grown around here, and since we live near broke (by choice, don’t worry), they’re much cheaper by the pound than sugar pie pumpkins. I still think they’re delicious in pies and other recipes, but perhaps I just haven’t had enough pie pumpkins in my life for comparison.