Discover the delicious salty snack hiding inside everyone's favorite winter squash.

Once the grandkids finished scooping out all the gooey “guts” from the Halloween jack-o’-lantern, or after she had cleaned out a pumpkin for roasted fresh pumpkin puree, Grandma would always save the seeds for roasting. Plain and salty, sweet or spicy, the toasty seeds were a favorite snack of Grandpa’s and one they both looked forward to every fall.

This pumpkin season, don’t allow the seeds go to waste; they are a perfectly delicious (and healthy) snack that can be seasoned in a number of tasty ways. Among the many benefits of this all-natural snack, eating pumpkin seeds in moderation can help to lower cholesterol and are a great source of magnesium.

Salty Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

(Recipe adapted from www.seriouseats.com)

1 ½ cups pumpkin seeds, washed and dried.

2 tablespoons melted butter or olive oil

2 teaspoons kosher salt

1)    Preheat oven to 350ºF.

2)    Add the seeds to a bowl with the 2 tablespoons of melted butter or olive oil. Add the salt along with any other seasonings; toss to coat.

3)    Spread the seeds in an even layer on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.

4)    Bake for about 15 minutes, or until the seeds are golden brown. Keep a watchful eye and stir the seeds every so often, so that they toast evenly.

Variations

Grandma loved to get creative with how she seasoned her pumpkin seeds.  Spiced with chili powder or sweetened with cinnamon sugar, it was always a different surprise! Come up with your own flavors or try out one of these:

• For cinnamon sugar pumpkin seeds: Reduce the salt to ¼ teaspoon and add 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon cinnamon in step 2.

• For spicy garlic pumpkin seeds: Reduce the salt to ½ teaspoon and add 2 teaspoons garlic powder and ½ teaspoon each cayenne and chili powder in step 2.

• For curried pumpkin seeds: Reduce salt to ½ teaspoon and add ½ teaspoon each curry power, garlic powder and ground cumin in step 2.