How to peel pumpkin seeds at home

Quickly peeling pumpkin seeds seems like an impossible task to many. People often do not want to simply eat them or use them as a supplement due to the laborious process of removing the thick shell from the kernels. In some culinary and medicinal recipes, they are present as an additional ingredient, and people go to the store to buy. But if you learn simple secrets, the attitude to the procedure can change dramatically.

Why pumpkin seeds don’t peel well

Peeling pumpkin seeds in some cases is not possible or the process takes a huge amount of time. People stop moving forward.

This is due to the mistakes that hostesses make:

1. Buying a defective product. Private sellers or manufacturers often violate the harvesting and storage technology, which leads to rotting. This is directly indicated by the smell.
2. Wet, poorly washed shells are difficult to clean. This is easy to check. It is enough to squeeze one seed between your fingers. A slip will indicate marriage.
3. If you need to clean raw grains, then you should choose a variety with a soft husk.

It is better to prepare the product yourself so as not to run into problems.

Preparing Pumpkin Seeds for Cleaning

It is better to choose a fully ripe large-seeded pumpkin. Then you can choose 2 ways of cutting.

1. Cut the cap off the vegetable with a sharp knife.
2. Divide the pumpkin into 2 parts.

For the next step, you must first remove large fragments of the pulp.

How to de-pulp pumpkin seeds

This is the most crucial moment. Not only the speed of processing depends on it, but also the quality of the refined grains.

To clean pumpkin seeds from pulp, you need to follow these steps:

• place the prepared mixture in a colander;
• rinse with plenty of warm water.

It is easy to check the quality of the work done. Run a dry hand over the pumpkin seeds. If they stick, repeat the procedure.

For drying, it is enough to lay out a sheet covered with parchment paper. It is placed in the sun, covered with a piece of gauze from insects. You can put in an ajar oven, heated to no more than 60 degrees. At the same time, the seeds are constantly stirred for uniform processing.

How to easily peel pumpkin seeds

The choice of method will depend on the quality and quantity of the product required.

The most popular options for peeling pumpkin seeds:

1. If the kernels are required for therapeutic purposes, they must not be roasted. Heat treatment can destroy useful substances. Use only well-washed wet or naturally dried pumpkin seeds. You will need scissors with rounded ends or nail clippers. With their help, the junction of the sidewalls is cut off, the nucleolus is removed, holding on to the thick edge.
2. To quickly peel pumpkin seeds in small quantities for simple consumption or as a confectionery additive, they must be thoroughly dried or roasted. A handful can be handled with your hands. Press on the side walls until they snap.

   

Cleaning pumpkin seeds at home in large quantities is also not difficult. There are also 2 popular ways to do this:

1. Place the product between layers of baking paper and roll out with a rolling pin. This action is necessary in order to only destroy the shell, and not crush the pumpkin seeds. Next, they need to be poured into a saucepan, pour water and boil for about half an hour. The floating husk is collected with a slotted spoon, and the mass is filtered through a sieve.
2. If the kernels are harvested for salads or pastries, then pumpkin seeds can be crushed a little with a coffee grinder. Pour into water and mix thoroughly. The peel will float to the top and must be drained. Repeat the procedure until the liquid becomes clear. Then, together with the mass at the bottom, strain through cheesecloth. Repeat drying.

These methods help to quickly peel pumpkin seeds, but still some marriage will remain. You will need to fix it manually.

How pumpkin seeds are peeled in production

To prepare pumpkin seeds for further use by enterprises or for sale in stores, special installations will be required. The process is also divided into stages, and the productivity reaches up to 250 kg in a short period of time – in just 1 hour.

To peel pumpkin seeds from the husk, they are pre-dried and calibrated. Only then do they get into the seed dryer, where the husk is removed. The device also does not cope with all the product, it remains underdevelopment (culling).

Completely peeling pumpkin seeds from the husk is obtained using a cyclone, a winnower and the process is completed by a vibrating table.

Conclusion

It is not so difficult to quickly peel pumpkin seeds if you choose the right vegetable variety and carry out the necessary preparatory steps. But it is worth knowing that now you can grow that variety of vegetable in which the grains are not covered with a protective shell, which simplifies the preliminary process. It is enough to simply rinse thoroughly from the pulp, dry and, if desired, fry.