We typically plant a huge garden and part of that garden is WINTER SQUASH of which you may not know, PUMPKINS are part of. We keep and process the seeds from them all as a nutritious snack.

The term winter squash can be a bit misleading. It simply describes a squash that stores well through most of the winter. Here are some that we grow, but not nearly all of the winter squash. Pumpkins, hubbard, acorn, butternut, banana, spaghetti, and sweet meat.

After harvest we store them in our cellar which is has moist air and is usually about 35 degrees. We don’t wash them off, just put them into storage as they are.

Here is our recipe for roasting Winter Squash Seeds.

1. Cut your squash up for eating, dehydrating, freezing or freeze drying and save the seeds.
   

2. ---

   Pull as much fiber off of the seeds as possible then place them in a colander, sieve, cheese cloth or strainer and run water over the seeds. Shake and swirl the strainer so the seeds rub against each other. You can even use your hands grabbing through the seeds to press them against each other.
   

3. ---

   Place the seeds in a sauce pan that could hole 3 times the seeds you have.
   Add enough water to just cover the seeds.
   Add at least 1-2 Tbsp of salt for each 1/2 – 1c of seeds (more if you like salty’er seeds).

   Omit the salt if you prefer no salt added
   

4. ---

   Bring the seeds to a boil and keep it boiling for 10 minutes.
   You will have to monitor the heat and stir it constantly to keep it from boiling over.
   

5. ---

   Now pour the seeds and boiling water through a strainer and keep the salty water to use in a moment.
   Rinse the seeds under running water and you’ll see that most of the remaining fibers will come off.
   Notice in the picture how clean the seeds are and the residual fibers is now in the strainer.
   

6. ---

   Place the seeds back in the sauce pan and add the previously used, hot salt water back in and bring it back to a boil for 1 more minute.
   NOTE: You may want to add a little more salt depending on your salty seed preference.
   

7. ---

   Strain the seeds again removing the salt water.
   Let the seeds set in the strainer to drain as much water off as possible.
   If you prefer light salt, you may want to lightly rinse them under running water.
   

8. ---

   Preheat your oven to 400F
   Cover a cookie sheet or shallow baking pan or cake pan with parchment paper or Use a small amount of Olive Oil to lightly oil a cookie sheet.
   

9. ---

   Wash your sauce pan that you boiled the seed in and place the seeds back in it. Now add Olive Oil to the seeds (about 1 Tbsp per cup of seeds) and stir it in so that all the seeds are all lightly coated.
   Now place the seeds back in the strainer and let any excess oil drain away if you over did it. You want the seeds wet with olive oil and a little extra doesn’t hurt the process at all.
   

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    Place the seeds on the cookie sheet and spread them out flat
    

11. ---

    Bake the seeds for 15-20 minutes for barely roasted, 30-40 minutes for heavy roasted.
    Stir the seeds every 5 minutes to avoid sticking to the cookie sheet.
    They are done when they are dry and browned.
    Listen for the seeds to start popping.
    This is the indication that they are at the barely roasted point and this is where most people take them out.
    

12. ---

    Pour the seeds onto parchment paper (not wax paper) to cool.
    When cool you can sample a few to see if they are dry enough. If they seem hard to crack or even slightly damp at all go to final drying below.
    
    —FINAL DRYING—
    This is our preferred method of final drying.
    If you have a food dehydrator, you can place them in the dehydrator to finish off their drying. It doesn’t roast them anymore and they dry out very well. If you don’t have a screen for your dehydrator and the seeds want to fall through, lay a paper towel down first. We leave them in for at least 24 hours just to make sure they are really dry. If they have any moisture left, they will mold so make sure they are bone dry.

    ALTERNATE FINAL DRYING
    If you don’t have a food dehydrator you can use your oven. You can place them back on the cookie sheet and place them in the over at the lowest setting for a few hours to dry out or if they’re not roasted enough, put them back in at the lowest setting… (usually abt 150F) to dry for 2-5 hours.

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    STORAGE
    Keep in a container in a cool dry place.
    Place a silicone gel packet in the container to absorb any moisture.