Exploding seeds!

Mrs_A_4

Decided to make butternut squash soup for the first time as I only have 4 WW Points left for the day:o and BNS are Point-free...

Looked on here for inspiration as to how to make the seeds into a tasty snack, to be truly MS and get more munchies for my Points!

So, while soup was simmering, put washed and dried seeds on a baking tray with a dribble of oil (OK, not so WW, but Frylight didn't seem so exciting!), salt, paprika and cayenne pepper. Bunged in hot oven, expecting to check on them in ten minutes or so.

About three minutes after putting in oven, I hear a familiar "popcorn" pop! Thinking I'm crazy, I hear another. Seems that my seeds are exploding in the oven! I have just pulled them out, and with the exception of a couple of renegade seeds that bounced onto the oven floor, the rest of the seeds are crispy and good. In fact, I'm scoffing them now.

Is this normal seed behaviour?! Never roasted them before. Maybe I used too much oil... Please try it next time you have a butternut squash and tell me if yours explode too - they taste great though!

soappie

I've toasted pumpkin seeds in olive oil with salt and pepper many times but they never popped. I put them on about number 5. So maybe your oven was too hot.

Mrs_A_4

Maybe it was - had just had the butternut squash chunks in it to brown off. On the subject, whoever has said not to bother peeling it on previous threads is wrong IMHO, soup-wise at least. Despite blending the hell out of it I could still detect skin bits. Will try skin-on next time I do BNS chips though, might be a more appropriate texture!

Pink.

Normally I dry roast seeds in a pan on the hob.......if I let the pan get too hot they start to pop and leap about all over the place. So I agree with soappie, the oven was probably too hot for them.

Pink

mocolo

I agree with PW- they do pop when it gets too hot. I regularly dry toast pumpkin seeds in a pan to nibble on -they are lovely. In fact I wait for the popping to indicate that they have had enough.