Yum! My husband and 10 year old son started carving the pumpkins last night. I think they’re going to finish today. I picked up a kit at a yard sale for a buck and it has all kinds of cool patterns. Good times.
Do you cook your pumpkin seeds? DH is going to try a new recipe this year. Do you have a tried and true recipe? Do share.
I need to go out and get more candy because we ate it all. Twice. I better wait until Monday afternoon. 
I separate out the seeds from the pulp by hand, but don’t worry too much about still having some pumpkin on the seeds. I drizzle olive oil on them in a big bowl and mix it all up with my hands. Very slippery. Then spread on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt. Heck if I can remember what temperature the oven goes on at, though. I probably Google it every year to find an appropriate temp.
Homemade roasted seeds seem to have thinner, more breakable shells, so sometimes I eat the shell and all with the homemade ones.
My wife usually makes several batches… she’ll do the olive oil thing then make em with garlic, chili powder, seasoning salt - basically whatever powdered spice sounds good at the time.
Yummy.
I’ve already spent about $50 on pumpkins this year just for the seeds. The empty shells are littering the yard like Pumpkinhead himself set up a day care center.
I just salt them, spread them out on a cookie sheet and bake at 200 for a few hours. And definately leave just a little pulp on them. It really enhances the taste. I’d have to say avoid any coatings or seasonings. The taste of the seed is what you’re after anyway. But everyone has different tastes.
One of the best things about living in an area with a large Mexican/Hispanic population is being able to buy prepared pumpkin seeds all year round, right next to the sunflower seeds and kernels. I’ve lived in other cities which don’t stock as many Hispanic goodies in the grocery stores, and I’ve sorely missed them.
The VERY best thing, of course, is having wonderful Mexican restaurants, many of them owned and operated by immigrants who are cashing in on other immigrants’ desire for good home cooking. There’s nothing like fresh salsa and hot chips and ice cold beer, and then a combo plate, and then a praline that Grandma Restauranteur made that very day.
To clean the seeds, I stick all the guts in a large bowl of water, and scrub them between my palms. The seeds will float and be easy to separate from the pulp, as I recall.
But the roasted pulp adds flavour!
I second the lucky-to-find-seeds thing. I grew up in the Kootenays, and sunflower seeds were everywher, but I can find the same brand of pumpkin seeds beside the sunflower seeds. Deelicious, and if you’re ever trying to quit smoking, they’re a good “busy” food to keep your hands and mouth busy while the cravings pass.
I like them for road trips for the same reason. And I don’t remove ALL the pulp, it just seems to go faster getting the bulk of the pulp off that way.
Hmmm… Around here, pumpkin seeds are readily available just about anywhere. Supermarkets, gas stations, drug stores - pretty much any place that has any amount of snack foods. IIRC, “David” is the brand.
