The orange Hokkaido pumpkin has much more to offer than "just" its delicious pulp. Inside it also houses a few seeds that you don't have to throw away, or rather you shouldn't throw them away, because: They contain valuable substances and, when roasted, give numerous dishes that certain something. They are suitable, for example, as a topping for salads as well as for soups and baked goods. In short: save the hokkaido kernels and dry them. We'll tell you how!

Hokkaido Cores are far too good to throw away

How to dry Hokkaido kernels

  1. First, you need to get the seeds out of the Hokkaido pumpkin. To do this, it's best to first cut the Hokkaido in half with a large, sharp knife. Then, using a spoon or (more conveniently) an ice cream scoop, scoop the pips out of the two halves and place them on prepared paper towels or in a bowl.
  2. In the second step, you should free the seeds from any remaining pulp. It is advisable to rub your fingers at the beginning. Then put the seeds in a sieve and hold the whole thing under running water. In this way, remaining threads of meat can also be reliably removed.
  3. During the procedure described above, you can already preheat the oven to around 180 to 200 degrees Celsius.
  4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spread the nuts on it. You must make sure that the Hokkaido cores do not overlap. This means they should be a little apart from each other so that they can dry evenly in the oven.
  5. Put the tray with the cores in the oven. The suggested baking time is about 20 minutes. We recommend turning the kernels over after 10 minutes using a spatula (again for even drying).
  6. Take the tray out of the oven and let the Hokkaido kernels cool down.
  7. Last but not least, crack open the kernels one at a time - similar to sunflower seeds.

tips

Instead of the oven, you can also use a dehydrator if you have one. With this device, the (gentle, efficient) drying of Hokkaido kernels works even better.

Store dried Hokkaido kernels correctly

Place the dried hokkaido seeds in airtight cans. A cool storage in a pantry or in the cellar is preferable.

The garden journal freshness ABC

How can fruit and vegetables be stored correctly so that they stay fresh for as long as possible?

The garden journal freshness ABC as a poster:

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Category:

Vegetable garden