Pumpkin - gourd culture. It pleases not only with its pulp, which can be boiled and baked, but also with seeds hiding inside. Under the white shell contains a product with rare components. In addition to the usual vitamins A and E, pumpkin seeds are filled with vitamin K, necessary for the body to normal blood clotting. They are also saturated with zinc, the amount of which in them is slightly less than in oysters.
The inclusion of a handful of seeds in the everyday menu will strengthen the gastric mucosa and will not miss the unpleasant guests - worms. Inside the tasty product contains cucurbitin - a deadly poison for parasites, absolutely harmless to humans.
Healing qualities of pumpkin seeds suggest that they should always be in stock.
How to store pumpkin seeds for food
Pumpkin seeds can be bought or prepared independently. Stores offer product peeled or inshell, toasted or dried.
To save seeds longer, it is better to buy unpeeled. The shell protects the inner fruit from drying out, loss of taste and nutritional qualities. The oil contained inside will not oxidize and will not rot. In peeled seeds, it quickly spoils their taste.
Seeds, selected from the pumpkin itself, should be placed in a colander and rinsed in plenty of water. They must be completely free of fibers.
It happens that the fibrils are so easy to keep up with. Then the seeds need:
- Pour with cold water and leave for an hour or two.
- Rinse again, wait for the water to drain.
- Spread in one layer on a table covered with oilcloth or plastic wrap to dry.
The sun should not fall on the seeds, so they should lie in partial shade. After a few days (4-5), they reach a state suitable for storage.
Instead of drying in the air, you can resort to using the oven:
- Spread the seeds on a baking sheet in a single layer.
- Heat oven to 40 degrees.
- Put the baking tray in, leave the door half-open.
- Periodically (once every 30 minutes) the seeds are stirred.
- After 1, 5-2 hours, turn off the oven, set the baking tray with the seeds out.
After the product has cooled completely, it should be poured into clean glass jars. This is the most suitable container. Banks need to be covered with plastic covers. Food containers are also used - provided that they are tightly closed.
You can store seeds at room temperature (20-22 degrees). They feel good in the closet, on the glazed loggia and remain useful and useful for at least a year. In a purified form, seeds are stored up to six months.
How to prepare and save seeds for seed
For a good harvest pumpkins need high-quality seed. It can be collected from already ripe melons in your garden. For the seeds you need to prepare those pumpkins that:
- have the correct form and sufficient size;
- uniform in color.
A pumpkin intended for seed should be grown at some distance from other plants.
Material collected from those fruits that had time to ripen before the first frost and laid down for storage.
Pumpkins need to hold in a warm room for three weeks or four. But it is not worth tormenting them for too long, as the seeds are able to germinate inside. For landing they will become unsuitable.
We collect the seeds as follows:
- Cut the pumpkin a little to the side. In the middle of this can not be done, because
- seeds.
- The seeds are extracted, cleaned from the pulp and washed in cool water.
- We select the best copies from the whole mass: no defects, large and full.
- Fold the seeds on a flat surface in a warm and dry room to dry.
Next, the seeds must be folded into bags of paper or natural fabric. Place the container should be in the room dark and dry, with temperatures up to 16 degrees.
Pumpkin seeds are not scarce and are affordable for everyone. Yes, and save them easily.
Why not take advantage of this familiar product and not to use it daily? It will save the body from many troubles.
