Topic: Growing Pumpkin for Seeds

[George the Pigman]

Has anyone grown pumpkin specifically for the seeds? I assume they are varieties just for producing edible seeds as the ones my wife buys are green rather than white (she loves them!).

[galina]

Yes called oil seed pumpkins.  Sometimes also hulless seed pumpkins.  Or naked seeded pumpkins.  Here is one of the varieties.  https://www.marshalls-seeds.co.uk/pumpkin-seeds-kakai-pid10160.html
Here is another variety  https://www.seaspringseeds.co.uk/shop/winter-squashes-and-pumpkin-seed/triple-treat-pumpkin-detail

[pumkinlover]

I remember from the Organic gardening catalogue a variety  called Lady Godiva but I never tried them.
On occasion I've peeled normal pumkin seeds and found them really tasty but it takes so long. But they are much nicer than bought ones so it will be interesting to hear if you go ahead.

[Vinlander]

I used to give all my pumpkins away at Halloween on condition I got the seedy bit back in a bag. This meant I was always looking for good seed flavour and big seeds to the exclusion of absolutely everything else.
 
This is what I wrote in 2015:
I grew Kakai recently and Triple-treat and Godiva about a decade ago.
None of the seeds were tasty compared with hulled ones from my usual pumpkins, and the flesh was too bland to even consider eating.
A typical result of breeding for anything except flavour.
I've not tried Styrian.
The ease of growing  them would make it worthwhile for bulk production (flour for bread-making and ersatz guacamole) - but I decided to skip them and grow the largest-seeded hulled ones I could find -  the ecuadorean blue squash called Cerrano was perfect but unfortunately after about 5years of saving seed it  suddenly lost all germination and I've been unable to find it anywhere.

Cerrano seeds averaged around one inch long - I've never understood why snack pumpkin seeds sold in some countries are the size of courgette seed - do they really just buy them as a finger exercise? (I suppose they really might be using more calories than they provide - maybe I should eat melon seed in front of the TV - at least they are quite tasty...).

Other blue squashes from S.America might have been something like "Cerrano" but it had one big problem - It used to get stolen regularly (and probably won many shows elsewhere) to the point where it was hardly worth growing.

Soon after, I discovered that I like the flavour of raw pumpkin - better than raw carrot in slaw and crudite (and Kimchi) because it is more tender.

I buy naked seeds as I need them - hardly worth the effort of growing them. Although throwing the flesh into the compost bin isn't much less work than growing them - but I need the space for things with flavour.

I now grow dual-purpose double-flavour varieties - Turks Cap is surprisingly good (some people disagree - but it's better raw). Other varieties are good but TC is much easier to keep true. My other producers are unspecified mongrels from Onion squash, Crown Prince and a few others lost in time. I now grow Blue Banana for its keeping qualities combined with good flavoured flesh (though its seeds are a bit small - unless you want to lose weight I suppose).

I have recently found that Galeux d'Eysines has incredibly rich flesh (not just sweet) - the first one I have ever enjoyed cooked (though it's still a waste). Unfortunately the only year I've got it to ripen outdoors was 2018 - I'm having to waste my covering options on it now. Unfortunately the seed are to precious to eat (so far).

Cheers.

 B & T World Seeds list '"Cerrano Squash, prov.Ecuador" - Cucurbita pepo Cerrano' but then say: 'Sorry, seeds of Cucurbita pepo Cerrano are not currently available. Please click here to add "Cucurbita pepo Cerrano" to our Wants List.'

[penedesenca]

Yes, I have tried kakai (bush) and lady godiva (sprawling). Unfortunately the pumpkin itself is only good enough for lanterns, animal fodder or compost heap so it feels such a waste. I did pick up a  cheap pack of Junona from b and q in their end of season basket to try.

[pumkinlover]

Any comments on the flavour of the naked seeds? Although I love my squash so much that I don't fancy growing something which doesn't give nice taste of the flesh as well.

[penedesenca]

Any comments on the flavour of the naked seeds? Although I love my squash so much that I don't fancy growing something which doesn't give nice taste of the flesh as well.

Unfortunately it has been a few years since I grew hulless ones but I remember liking them and variety didn't seem to affect taste. It has been longer since that I have eaten shelled seeds so I can not offer a comparison and I don't like the seeds that much that I would sit there and shell them.

[Vinlander]

Hull-less/naked pumpkin seeds are a useful and tasty food but best as an ingredient in other things - basically the flavour is still good but much less intense than peeled normal seeds. It's worth roasting both kinds for a more intense flavour.

Individual naked seeds are a disappointment compared to peeled, but in bread, muesli etc. you just need to use twice as many.

I mostly use them for bread-baking - it's much more economical and far less wasteful to put 20g of them through the coffee grinder and into bread mix than to use 10g of the oil for the same purpose.

The same goes for sesame and walnut oils, hemp seed and so on - basically doing it this way (and helped by buying in bulk) means these 'fancy' oils are costing you less than the cheapest olive oil (and you're getting more flavour to boot).

Cheers.

[pumkinlover]

Interesting comments Vinlander.
Something I had never thought to do, however we can buy rapeseed oil in 5 litres from a wholefood warehouse which is cheaper than olive oil.
Food for thought though

[galina]

Favourite pumpkin seed recipe is roasted and placed on top of soup.  And the green naked seeded ones really improve with a bit of roasting. 

As of course do the other seeds with hulls, which we like as a chewy snack roasted, salted or with a dash of soy sauce.   

[Vinlander]

Interesting comments Vinlander.
Something I had never thought to do, however we can buy rapeseed oil in 5 litres from a wholefood warehouse which is cheaper than olive oil.
Food for thought though

Sadly I'm a bit of a luddite when it comes to food processing - and for oil that means anything beyond a simple press (I've read that rapeseed needs something more to make it palatable). Olive oil is great - I love the flavour but it is a great example of the difference between bland and subtle. For bread I want something I can taste through the 20-30% of spelt and finger-millet flours that give a basic level of deliciousness. The oil in walnuts or pumpkin seed or sesame etc. is much cheaper than the same amount from a bottle (which have flavour when neat but almost disappear in bread). Roasted pumpkin seed oil is an exception - its flavour is so much stronger than the flavour of roasted seeds - I find it irreplaceable in a rice salad - despite its cost.

My food-luddite fervour cuts in whenever I'm eating anything my ancestors weren't eating for ~40kY before I got here. At the moment I'm wrestling with a dilemma - I enjoy crabsticks - I prefer them to farmed prawns (bland, bland) so I use/mix them to reduce my consumption of wild ones. The crabstick process is new & therefore suspect, but has similarities to some very old methods of preserving fish. I'm going to have to dive deep in the web - I may be gone some time...

Cheers.