How to clean pumpkin seeds

Pumpkin seeds are a great source of fiber and nutrients, and, therefore, healthy snack. Soaked in sugar syrup or brine, baked in the oven, they are a great alternative to popcorn. Elegant green cleaned seeds can decorate cakes, salads and soups. But before you cook and eat the seeds, they must be cleaned.

You will need

• pumpkin;
• knife;
• the colander;
• - skimmer;
• - oven;
• - baking paper;
• - meat hammer.

Instruction

1. Cut off the top of the pumpkin with a sharp knife. Pull the "cover" for the "tail". Those seeds you took out along with the top, carefully cut together with the fibers, separate and soak in a bowl of water.
2. With a spoon remove the insides of the pumpkin. Put them on a tray or newspaper and your fingers remove the seeds from the pumpkin fibers, and then put them in a container of water.
3. Drain the water from the bowl of seeds through a colander, place it under warm running water your seeds with your fingers, helping the water to wash off any pumpkin fibers. Perhaps some seeds will have to clear them one by one manually. Cleaned seeds , place on paper towels and allow to dry.
4. You should not rely on that pumpkin when the fibers dry, they will fall off the seeds. This does not happen, on the contrary, clean seeds will be almost impossible.
5. The cleaned fibers from pumpkin seeds is not yet ready to put them in the food. If you want to enjoy their natural flavor, you will have to boil. For this you need to boil a large pot of water and drop the seeds in boiling water. Cook the seeds on low heat for about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and drain the seeds through a colander. Let them dry off.
6. If you want to get fried salty or sweet seeds, soak them overnight in salted or sweetened water. Take 1/4 Cup of sugar or salt for every two cups of water. After you soak the seeds, drain and dry them. Then preheat oven to 180oC, place the pumpkin seeds in a thin layer on the baking sheet, covered with baking paper, drizzle with vegetable oil and bake for 10 to 20 minutes, until light Golden brown.
7. Pumpkin seeds can be eaten directly with the outer shell. But if you want to make soup or baked goods, or you just don't like the fibrous husk, seeds can be easily cleaned. One seeds are cleaned, by placing the narrow end between the thumb and index finger. Squeeze the fingers and if the seed is not to slip from the husk itself, insert in the crack nail or a knife for cleaning of vegetables and remove the skin.
8. To free from the husk a lot of pumpkin seeds, place them between sheets of baking paper and beat off with a hammer. Beat to break the shell but not to break the seeds. Pour the seeds in a Cup of water, stir with a spoon. The husk will float on the surface and cleaned, the seeds will sink to the bottom. Remove peel with a slotted spoon and drain the water through a colander. Cleaned seeds dry and eat.