Carving pumpkins is a long-held tradition for Halloween that reaches back to ancient times of carving gourds or turnips to use as lanterns. Today, it is just something fun for the whole family to do and adds a decorative flair to the porches and lawns of the neighborhood.

While there are many tips and templates for carving pumpkins there isn’t so much about the seeds. My favorite part of pumpkin carving is not the finished product but in digging my hands into the slimy seeds and gooey mess of the pumpkin’s innards.

We always save the seeds each year, I have even thought of saving the “guts” but have been told they are not good for pies and I have not found any other purpose so far. Usually we just eat the seeds, but even then there are so many left over that some of them still go to waste. So this year, I will be saving them for a couple of different purposes.

Eating, of Course

snacking on pumpkin seeds has become so popular that they can now be purchased in stores near where the sunflower seeds are sold. Here is a basic recipe for the seeds.

Basic Recipe: Rinse the seeds under cold water and try to remove as much of the pulp and strings as possible. Do not worry about getting every last bit of pulp, a little bit of pulp adds flavor. Place the seeds in a single layer on an oiled baking sheet and stir them around to coat them with the oil. Sprinkle seeds with salt and bake at 325 degrees for about 25 minutes. Check the seeds and stir them after the first 10 minutes. Let them cool and store in an air-tight container.

Other recipes can be used, basically anything can be sprinkled on seeds from garlic salt to cinnamon to chili powder. Check out www.allrecipes.com for more great ideas.

Arts and Crafts

When the seeds are dried out they make great items for craft projects. I don’t usually condone using food products in arts and crafts, but since the seeds are usually thrown away anyway, this is a great idea if you have little ones still in the house.

Dry the seeds out on newspaper, paper towels or brown paper bags. They should probably dry for about 2 weeks to ensure that they are completely dried inside and out. Once dried store them in an airtight container wherever arts and crafts items are stored. They can be glued onto paper, cardboard or wood as a mosaic design. Seeds can even be painted once glued or spray-painted prior to gluing them on an object.

Reuse in the Garden

It can be “iffy” reusing seeds, especially with crop that has a chance of being cross-pollinated by insects (as pumpkins are). The vegetable that grows from them might be inferior. I would not expect to get a bumper crop and make pumpkin growing a thriving business, but a few pumpkins might grow well enough to use as jack-o-lanterns the following year. At the very least, it will be fun for the kids to watch them sprout and grow.
To preserve pumpkin seeds the “wet method” is preferred. Put the seed mass and a small amount of warm water in a bucket or jar. Let the mix ferment for 2-4 days, stirring it daily.

This will kill any viruses and separates the good seeds from the bad seeds. The bad seeds and the pulp will float and the good seeds will sink, then drain off the pulp and seeds from the top and spread the good seeds on newspaper, brown paper bags or paper towels to dry. Store them in a cool, dry place. When ready to plant simply follow standard planting procedures for pumpkin seeds.

Musical Instruments

Dried seeds make great maracas. Let the seeds air-dry for approximately 2 weeks. Then, simply make a “shaker” or rattle out of a plastic container with a lid. Place the seeds inside, put the lid on and shake, shake, shake!

If you have any other suggestions I would love to hear them in the “comments” section below