Toasted pumpkin seed

Ingredients:

• One pumpkin
• Salt
• Vegitable oil

Toasty pumpkin seeds

Scoop the pulp and seeds from inside the pumpkin. Seperate the stringy pulp from the seeds. Disgard the pulpy core. Rinse the seeds.

To make salted pumpkin seeds -

Bring 4 cups of water with a Tablespoon of salt to boil. Add seeds. Reduce heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Strain seeds and spread out in a single layer to dry on cotton towels or paper towels. Skip this step if you do not want salted seeds.

To make seasoned pumpkin seeds - Heat oven to 375. Spray pan with any good vegetable oil. Spread seeds onto cookie sheet in a single layer. Spay lightly with oil. If you want spicy seeds, add seasoning now.

(Try a light sprinkle of chili seasoning mix, butter flavored popcorn salt, or onion salt. If you use a seasoned salt, skip the boiling-in-salt-water-step.)

Bake on the top rack until the seeds begin to brown (about 15 to 20 minutes). If you would like seeds darker, put back in oven, checking often until they are as brown as you like. Watch carefully, the time between browned and burned is but an instant.

Remove the tray of pumpkin seed and cool on an a rack. Let the seeds completely cool. Eat the seeds whole. If you have all the time in the world, crack open the pumpkin seeds and eat only the inner seed.

Pumpkins and sunflowers must be thoroughly dried.

Let sunflower seed dry naturally. Cover seed heads with netting to keep the birds away.

To eat the sunflower seed: the seeds must be dried on the plants.

Use your thumb to rub the seeds off. Soak seeds overnight in a gallon of salt water. (1 cup of salt to one gallon of water.)

Dry the seeds again. Spread in a thin layer in an oven at 250 degrees F. Bake 3- 4 hours, stirring occasionally. Cool completely. Store in an airtight container.

Save for bird food: let the seeds dry naturally. Store on seed head or rub seed off and let dry thoroughly.