Friday, September 19, 2014

Roasted Watermelon Seeds

Good morning my lovely friend!


Today's farm experiment:  Roasted Watermelon Seeds


I was cutting up a watermelon yesterday for the freezer for out-of-season smoothies.  I save the red part AND the white part of the rind, which gives bulk to smoothies and is flavored by whatever juice or fruit I add.  I hate that I do not have something to do with all the seeds and the hard dark rind, so I googled what to do with watermelon seeds and got this recipe.  Apparently watermelon seeds are very high in minerals, protein, and good fats.


Generally I buy seedless watermelons for this, but since we have grown several of our own seeded watermelons this year, I needed to find a way to remove the seeds.  I found a great hack for how to cut the watermelon that leaves the heart and flesh intact, and makes it easy to scrape the mushy seed flesh away.


Last night I rinsed the seeds and put them in my dehydrator to dry for a couple of hours on the lowest setting.


This morning I tossed the seeds with a bit of Olive Oil and sprinkled with kosher salt and baked them at 350 (the exact recipe is 1/2 cup seeds, 1/4 teaspoon of olive oil and 1/4 tsp of salt).  It was supposed to take about 10-15 minutes, but I could not hear the timer when it went off, so it was more like 20 minutes.


The result?  They were excellent but a little hard to eat. :)  I tried eating the husk and all, but then realized they were supposed to be eaten more like sunflower seeds--crack the hull with your teeth, evict the kernel, then spit out the hull.  The kernel tastes wonderful, but I really want a better way to remove the kernel from the hull without mouthing it.  On the other hand, just like any other seed or nut, roasted watermelon kernels are a bit higher in fat than a snack I want to eat lots of, so having to crack each seed with my teeth does slow down the consumption rate enough that I get satiated before I eat too many.

There is another process of roasting them in a pan which might yield a softer (or more brittle, which would be helpful) shell.  I might have to try that next.

No comments:

Post a Comment