How can you shell pumpkin seeds easily?

[Mamasan]

I love all things pumpkin, and I love seeds as well. I would love to use shelled seeds in baking without purchasing them from a store. Does anyone know how they do it? More importantly, does anyone know how WE can do this fairly easily?

 

[Durgan]

I can't imagine how those shelled seeds are done in bulk food stores. My Champion Juicer can handle wet seeds and I love them but can only get a few seeds when I process a whole pumpkin.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?REQSL 21 September 2014 Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin seeds cooked and shelled make a fine addition to Breakfast cereal.The seeds are cooked in a double boiler to inhibit burning about one hour, separated from the substrate and put through a Champion Juicer which separates the desired pith from the outer shell. The remainder of the pumpkin will be made into juice.

 

[Durgan]

Here is another way of shelling. I have never done this.
http://www.wikihow.com/Shell-Pumpkin-Seeds
How to Shell Pumpkin Seeds

 

[SeniorCitizen]

I can't imagine how those shelled seeds are done in bulk food stores. My Champion Juicer can handle wet seeds and I love them but can only get a few seeds when I process a whole pumpkin.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?REQSL 21 September 2014 Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin seeds cooked and shelled make a fine addition to Breakfast cereal.The seeds are cooked in a double boiler to inhibit burning about one hour, separated from the substrate and put through a Champion Juicer which separates the desired pith from the outer shell. The remainder of the pumpkin will be made into juice.

Those bulk seeds are most likely from a machine like a commercial melon seeder or possibly the same machine.

As early as the 1920s a water melon seeding machine was towed from farm to farm, for those interested in seed production, where the machine was parked by a stack of melons to be seeded.

I haven't seen one in years and can't seem to find a pic of one on the net.

 

[Chuck]

The way I have seen it done is to remove the seeds from the pumpkin and clean the pumpkin off of them by running water over them and the let them dry for an hour or two. Then get a rolling pin and roll over them so as to crack the hull. Then boil them in water until the hulls float to the top. Strain the hulls and then dry the seeds. Works with squash too

 

[IcyBC]

This is really interesting, and the way @Chuck describes sounds like doable for me if I ever attempt to shell pumpkin seeds. I usually just roasted them and ate all when they were still crunchy.

 

[Pat]

This is interesting. I have tried to use the seeds from the pumpkin without much success. I baked the seeds in the shells to dry the seeds and remove the shells. I was not happy with the results and have not tried again. It sounds like to much work for the one time we have a fresh pumpkin in the house for me. We do not eat fresh pumpkin often.

 

[Mamasan]

Thank you Durgan and Chuck for your shelling ideas--I will try this with my next pumpkin...probably early next week and let everyone know how it worked!

 

[alexiskilgannon]

I can't even imagine how they get the shells off of pumpkin seeds in mass quantities. I have never shelled my own pumpkin seeds and only ate them shell on. Let us know how the shelling process works out for you!

 

[Corzhens]

Hmm, this is a hard question to answer. What I know are the pumpkin seeds with no shells although we seldom buy it in lieu of the one with shells because my husband would say the Chinese take off the shell by biting on the edge of the shell to open it up. That means the shelled seeds have the saliva of the Chinese. But humor aside, I think there is a threshing machine that removes the shell.

 

[Mamasan]

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I can't imagine how those shelled seeds are done in bulk food stores. My Champion Juicer can handle wet seeds and I love them but can only get a few seeds when I process a whole pumpkin.
http://www.durgan.org/URL/?REQSL 21 September 2014 Pumpkin Seeds
Pumpkin seeds cooked and shelled make a fine addition to Breakfast cereal.The seeds are cooked in a double boiler to inhibit burning about one hour, separated from the substrate and put through a Champion Juicer which separates the desired pith from the outer shell. The remainder of the pumpkin will be made into juice.

I am sure the chickens would also enjoy the pith as well!

 

[dreamseer]

The way I have seen it done is to remove the seeds from the pumpkin and clean the pumpkin off of them by running water over them and the let them dry for an hour or two. Then get a rolling pin and roll over them so as to crack the hull. Then boil them in water until the hulls float to the top. Strain the hulls and then dry the seeds. Works with squash too

Wow! Thanks so much for posting this!! I love hulled pumpkin seeds, but as of yet, the only way I could enjoy them was to buy them from the health food store. We live right by a pumpkin patch that gives away their pumpkins after halloween. I'm am going to try this...and if successful, I might be able to have a massive amount for free!

And for anyone interested, raw pumkin seeds are a natural remedy for intestinal parasites!