Catfish Out of Water

Jack-o-lantern season is upon us. It only comes once a year. You can only tromp out into the mud six weeks out of the year. You can also go to the grocery store. It's not exactly a Christmas tree lot-sized spectacle. But you know that there are pumpkins around. And the best thing to do after pulling all of the guts out of them? Is to separate out the seeds, drizzle them in a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and any seasoning that you want, and roast them in the oven for 5-10 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. You can read on through the rest of the article to the recipe section below. But that's really all that you need out of this. Roasting pumpkin seeds is incredibly simple. It's a great quick and easy thing to do with the kids or for a snack in a pinch. You've already got the pumpkin, why not roast the seeds??

Are Jack-o-Lantern Seeds Edible?

Yes, Jack-o-lanterns do have edible seeds. One of my favorite things during the holiday season was going to the pumpkin patch, carving a jack-o-lantern with safety scissors, and roasting up the seeds. There might also be some delight and dread to pulling out the pumpkin guts and separating out all of the seeds. But most pumpkin seeds are edible, even if that wasn't their original intent. Which means that some seeds might be tastier than others, but your Jack-o-lantern are edible!

Jack-o-lanterns aren't the kind of pumpkin that was cultivated for eating. So, while it is edible? It's not the kind of pumpkin that you turn into a pie. Those are more of your pie/sugar/baking pumpkin (which are all the same pumpkin under different marketing taglines). You can also use other types of squash, like calabaza, which are much larger, a brighter orange hue, and have a richer flavor profile.

Moreover, while you could eat a Jack-o-lantern, it wouldn't be my first choice. The flesh isn't bred to be flavorful, I wouldn't recommend eating the tough skin, and the stringy guts aren't the tastiest of things (although you can purée and boil them into soup or pet food; just avoid the skin, which can be more difficult for cats or dogs to digest).

Can You Use Other Types of Pumpkin and Squash Seeds?

The short answer is yes, any edible squash, pumpkin, or other gourd is going to have edible seeds. Almost all gourds are edible. Although do check ornamental gourds. Not all of these are meant for eating. Exceptionally small or large seeds, like those in summer squash or large squash varieties, also aren't going to be that feasible to roast. They're going to be too soft or too hard to roast properly. Although almost all commercially available squash are going to be edible and have delicious seeds.

I have an entire article on The Fundamentals of Roasting Pumpkins, Squash, & Other Gourds as well as a plethora of other types of squash and gourds from Pie/Sugar/Baking Pumpkins to Red Hubbard Squash, Blue Hubbard Squash, Ambercup Squash, Kabocha Squash, and Calabaza Squash. As well as an article on The Fundamentals of Roasted Pumpkin & Squash Seeds and all of their accompanying seed recipes: Roasted Pumpkin Seeds,  Red Hubbard Squash Seeds, Blue Hubbard Squash Seeds, Ambercup Squash, Kabocha Squash Seeds, and Calabaza Squash Seeds.

Do You Need to Rinse or Dry Jack-o-Lantern Seeds?

Much like peppers, every part of the fruit is edible (yes, pumpkins and peppers are both fruit). The flesh, guts, seeds, and even skin of the pumpkin are all edible. Although, just like with peppers, you don't necessarily want to eat very part of it. In bell peppers, we tend to remove the veins and seeds because they don't taste very good. In hot peppers, we tend to add or remove the veins and seeds depending on how hot we want them to be (keep for hotter, remove for milder).

This means that, while you do want to remove the seeds, you don't need to worry about a few stringy pieces left behind.

It also means that you don't have to worry about rinsing or drying to seeds. Since the innards are all still edible, you don't have to painstakingly wash all of them off. They're just going to taste more like pumpkin and require less oil to coat because they already have a little pumpkin gut film on them.

Roasting the seeds will dry them. You don't need to dry them beforehand just to dry them again. You can, if you want. It's not going to hurt them. But, if you don't want to spend another hour on this activity? You can absolutely skip it. All of the innards are edible. Remove as much or as little as you want to.

Gallery

Variations of Jack-o-Lantern Seeds

It's not just pumpkin seeds that are edible. Edible squash tend have edible seeds. So, make sure to save them for all of your seed-eating needs. They're almost my favorite part of the process. I'll go get squash just to roast the seeds with absolutely no idea what I'm going to do with the rest of the squash. If you find yourself in that position, though, I do have plenty of Squash Recipes to help you choose from. I'll also just get on Pinterest or something and type in "squash recipe."