removing the muck from squash seeds?
After scooping the pulp and seeds from an acorn squash recently, I realized that they're not all that different from pumpkin seeds...so, being necessarily frugal, I tried roasting the squash seeds for a snack item...not a great quantity mind you, but still...
Well, it worked great, even if they have a tendency to pop like firecrackers if let to roast too long...They taste very good..maybe even better than pumpkin seeds, and their husks are less coarse than pumpkin seeds, but there was one small problem. It took forever to remove the muck attached to the seeds.
Does anyone know how to *easily remove the pulp from squash seeds to prep them for roasting?
==> Just so everyone knows. I already tried pressing them against my screen colander..sorta worked but not very well..they're too slimy
Well, it worked great, even if they have a tendency to pop like firecrackers if let to roast too long...They taste very good..maybe even better than pumpkin seeds, and their husks are less coarse than pumpkin seeds, but there was one small problem. It took forever to remove the muck attached to the seeds.
Does anyone know how to *easily remove the pulp from squash seeds to prep them for roasting?
==> Just so everyone knows. I already tried pressing them against my screen colander..sorta worked but not very well..they're too slimy
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Try to get as much off as you can manually. Allow them to dry. Rub between a dry cloth to slough off the dried pulp.
Oct 24, 2010. 11:14 PMbillybobjhonson
says:
idk about squash but pumpkin seeds will float so if you put them in a large bowl filled with water you can squish em around untill they seperate and then skim them off of the top, that is if they float of course
One of the ways I have seen this done in the past was slow but effective. Grasping a small handful of the seed and pressed it over a dried corn cob. If you squeeze and release the stuff enough, the liquid portion will be absorbed into the cob, and the pulp will come off much easier also.
A method that takes a long time, but is less work is to put the seed and pulp into a plastic bin and just allow them to sit overnight. The next day they can be spread over wire screens over buckets with a wire mesh over it. Wash as much pulp off as you can, and then move to a larger sized screen. At the end, there should be mainly only seed and a major portion of the pulp will have been washed away.
Technically, a pumpkin is a squash.
A method that takes a long time, but is less work is to put the seed and pulp into a plastic bin and just allow them to sit overnight. The next day they can be spread over wire screens over buckets with a wire mesh over it. Wash as much pulp off as you can, and then move to a larger sized screen. At the end, there should be mainly only seed and a major portion of the pulp will have been washed away.
Technically, a pumpkin is a squash.
Dec 17, 2009. 4:03 PMRe-design
says:
Something about this makes me want to try using rock salt to get the pulp off. Maybe some salt and seeds in a towel and rub back and forth.
Dec 17, 2009. 3:35 PMorksecurity
says:
I tend to "comb" them out with a pair of forks, one in each hand. That doesn't remove everything, but the remainder is perfectly happy to be roasted onto the shells; it's a good medium for attaching salt.
Found this on WikiHow... Can't personally vouch for it, but it sounds reasonable. This is for pumpkins, but I bet it'll work for squash too.
It is easiest to remove the seeds from the pumpkin before removing the pulp from the pumpkin. Immediately after opening the pumpkin, reach in and carefully pull the seeds off the pulp with a milking action. Doing this will remove just the seeds, and eliminate the annoying step of separating seeds from pulp after they've both been removed from the gourd. It's cleaner, faster, and easier.
If that doesn't work, try throwing them into a colander and spraying them with water. That is what I do with my punkin seeds, anyway.
It is easiest to remove the seeds from the pumpkin before removing the pulp from the pumpkin. Immediately after opening the pumpkin, reach in and carefully pull the seeds off the pulp with a milking action. Doing this will remove just the seeds, and eliminate the annoying step of separating seeds from pulp after they've both been removed from the gourd. It's cleaner, faster, and easier.
If that doesn't work, try throwing them into a colander and spraying them with water. That is what I do with my punkin seeds, anyway.
lol...is what I do too, as second step..unfortunately, squash seeds adhere to the pulp a bit better than pumpkin.
and fwiw, milking works too...to a point. problem is my fingers are too big or it's the pumpkin at work again.
and fwiw, milking works too...to a point. problem is my fingers are too big or it's the pumpkin at work again.
I'll send RavingChild over. He has small hands. While he's there, if you could put him through college, that would be great.
lol...um....sorry... but I'll send him home with a coke for you!
OK, if tuition is not an option then a refreshing tasty beverage works for me.
Dec 17, 2009. 12:00 PMBurf
says:
I'm hoping you get a good answer because I've never had much success with any method other than dumping the guts on a sheet of newspaper and combing the seeds out with my fingers and then rinsing with water.
Me too! That's one I learned from my mom when I was a kid....I gave it up for the colander trick (swirl them around and around with water flowing to press the muck out thru the screen) a few years ago when I had three large pumpkin's worth of seeds to de-goo
That's a good question. I think of tumbling with fine gravel, then a rinse, but I hope you get a better suggestion.
L
L
maybe not such a bad idea...I wonder if I have any quartz pebbles left.... I'll give it a try next go around. I have one more squash to bake.
granted, the standard methods work, to a point, but messier than I'm looking for. Someone has to have some neat trick their grandma knew or they discovered as a kid...I just know it...
hopefully ;-)
granted, the standard methods work, to a point, but messier than I'm looking for. Someone has to have some neat trick their grandma knew or they discovered as a kid...I just know it...
hopefully ;-)
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