Hull-Less Pumpkin Seeds

October 18, 2014 · 3 comments

hull-less seed pumpkins // Wayward Spark

Oh, this poor, neglected blog of mine. I was really truly convinced that when my kids started school in September, I was going to spend at least an hour a day working on stories for this space, but alas, that obviously hasn’t happened. Don’t worry, though, I’m not gone for good. I have a good handful (a couple handfuls?) of post ideas/photographs that will get published eventually. I guess I would just say that you can expect me to be a little less prolific for a while. Sorry ’bout that.

But anyway…pumpkin seeds! Gotta love ‘em, right? Back in the spring, I talked my mom into growing two different varieties of hull-less seed pumpkins, and now that they’ve been harvested, I want to give you the report.

Hull-less seed pumpkins produce seeds that aren’t encased in a fibrous covering. That makes them quite a bit more palatable and digestible than your average roasted jack-o-lantern seeds that really give your jaw a workout if you try to gnaw through a handful. The two varieties we tried out were ‘Kakai‘ from Johnny’s Selected Seeds and ‘Beppo‘ from Territorial Seed Company. (Henry also grew a few ‘Styrian‘ pumpkins from Turtle Tree Biodynamic Seed Initiative.) Unfortunately, the two specimens got all mixed up, and we couldn’t tell them apart from the outside. Both are, however, highly attractive in a gnarly ‘decorative gourd season‘ kind of way.

Like most pumpkins, these seed varieties were pretty low maintenance over the summer, and as the rest of the jack-o-lanterns and other winter squashes fully colored up and hardened off in the fall, these, too, were ready to harvest. My mom can’t remember exactly how many plants she put in the ground, but the end result was about 30 mostly good-sized fruits.

hull-less seed pumpkins // Wayward Sparkhull-less seed pumpkin harvest // Wayward Spark

We cut into a few right away, but a couple days ago, my mom decided that she wanted them gone, so we hacked up the whole lot with an ax and squished through pumpkin innards for a couple hours.

hull-less seed pumpkin harvest // Wayward Sparkhull-less seed pumpkin harvest // Wayward Spark

Each pumpkin produced 1/2 to 1 1/2 cups of slimy green seeds. There was a distinct difference in seed character between the two varieties. We *think* it’s the ‘Kakai’ seeds that are a bit larger and darker while the ‘Beppo’ seeds are more sage green and a little less plump. Overall, we collected about two gallons of seeds.

Some of (what we think are) the ‘Kakai’ seeds had already started to sprout inside the pumpkin, so we probably should have harvested them right away instead of letting them sit around for a couple weeks.

hull-less seed pumpkin harvest // Wayward Spark

Mom roasted a huge pan of seeds coated in olive oil and salt, and we’ve all been munching on them constantly for the last 48 hours. I think my little 2 1/2-year-old niece loves them the most, though I’ve heard rumor that her mother has been hoarding their stash for herself.

The seeds that didn’t get roasted right away went into the food dehydrator overnight to extend their shelf life for winter snacking.

hull-less seed pumpkin harvest // Wayward Sparkhull-less seed pumpkin harvest // Wayward Spark

The flesh of the seed pumpkins is supposedly pretty stringy and not particularly tasty, so we composted some and gave the rest to our chickens to peck at.

Growing seed pumpkins is a fun, worthwhile activity for a home gardener to do on a small scale, but I once saw “local” pumpkin seeds for sale at a natural food store in Corvallis at $12/pound, and that seemed kinda crazy. Yes, there’s a lot of work involved to justify that price, but I think I’d rather grow my own (or have my mom grow them for me).

{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }

Laura October 18, 2014 at 5:42 pm

Cool! Thanks for the post, I’ve never heard of these varieties. I’ll be adding these to my seed order for next year. We grew pop corn and peanuts (!) this year for homegrown snacks…

Reply

Kate Gatski October 30, 2014 at 12:49 pm

Thorough, informative and lovely, yes. Neglected? I think not. It’s a pleasure to poke in every now and then to see what interesting bits you’re sharing (whenever it happens). All the Best!

Reply

James November 2, 2014 at 7:55 am

We grew out a field of these this year . I accidentally ate a pound while seed cleaning *don’t tell*.

Reply

Leave a Comment

Previous post:

Next post: