The benefits of pumpkin is a well-known fact. Many people like to use its pulp for cooking various dishes. But not everyone knows that a vegetable contains another useful element. If you peel pumpkin seeds and peel them in the right way, you can enrich your body with many vitamins.
Methods for peeling pumpkin seeds from the peel
Seed Selection
Much depends on the quality of the product. It is better to plant a pumpkin and grow it yourself, without the use of chemical fertilizers. Seeds collected from such a crop will be the richest in such useful trace elements as vitamin E, a group of vitamins B, as well as A, C, D, zinc and potassium.
When choosing seeds, pay attention to several important points:
- they must be well cleaned of residues of pulp and mucus. To check this, simply moisten your fingers with water and grab one of them in your hands - it should not slip out. If this happens, but the seller insists on the quality of the goods - do not believe it, they are poorly stored, because this slippery film does not let air through, and they block with time;
- for cleaning, they must be well-dried and with a hard shell;
- Another way to check: put a handful of seeds and smell them: if they are already locked, they will have a specific smell and cause an unpleasant taste sensation when consumed.
Seed harvesting
By following these tips, you can easily dry your seeds at home quickly and correctly:
- take a pumpkin, it should be clean;
- cut the fruit in half, for convenience, take a knife with a large blade;
- take out the seeds and put them in a colander;
- rinse thoroughly under running water and clean them of pulp and residual mucus;
- allow moisture to drain or dry them on a towel;
- transfer the seeds to a baking sheet or other flat dry surface and leave to dry in a well-ventilated area near a heat source (such as a battery).
Important: in order to preserve all the beneficial properties, the seed must not be subjected to heat treatment. If you will dry them in the oven, set the temperature to a minimum and leave the door open.
Cleaning
Sunflower seeds are best cleaned dried
When the seeds have dried, you can begin to clean them. Depending on the required amount of product, there are 2 ways to do this at home.
Single seed husk removal
This method can be used if you need only one handful for cooking a dish. In this case, the following steps must be taken:
- we take scissors and, holding the seed by the thickened edge, carefully cut off the junction of the sidewalls in the direction of the nose;
- turn the seed with the cut part down and remove the nucleolus;
- repeat the manipulation of the required amount of product.
Large amount cleaning
When you need to clean a lot of seeds, the following method is effective:
- put dry seeds on the table (it is better to take a large size);
- with a rolling pin, gently press on the grains so that the husks crack or even open, and the nucleoli are not damaged;
- place the seeds in a pan and pour water with the expectation - for 1 cup of product 2 cups of liquid;
- boil for 20-30 minutes (depending on how quickly the peel leaves the grain);
- after we remove the emerging husk;
- at the bottom there were pure nuclei. Put them in a colander and cool under running water;
- repeat the drying procedure, but without the peel.
Pumpkin seeds in the diet
Pumpkin kernels are not a constant product in our diet. Most will prefer sunflower seeds or simply do without them. In fact, they are very useful, especially for the female body, because contain healthy fats. The condition of our hair, skin and nails depends on them.
When deciding to use the seeds on your own or as directed by a doctor for therapeutic and preventive purposes, remember that the daily norm is 10 g, provided that there are no problems with the digestive system. Raw kernels are best suited for this purpose. To enhance the benefit and add a pleasant taste, you can mix them with honey.
You can add seeds to baked goods, vegetable salads, sauces. So you will not only bring new flavor notes to everyday dishes, but also make the diet more nutritious.
Regular use of this product increases the body's immune defense level, improves tissue quality, replenishes the deficiency of beneficial vitamins, which has a general strengthening effect and even has a strong antimicrobial effect.
