To get started, you need to get yourself a couple of pumpkins with seeds. Select a pumpkin with lots of seeds by thumping the pumpkin with your finger and if it sounds hollow, you’ve got yourself a winner. I like to pick pumpkins that have interesting features like flat spots or odd dimples. This won’t likely impact your pumpkin seed harvest but it will really make for a wickedly cool carved pumpkin to wow your friends and enemies alike.
When you’re trying to decide what to season your pumpkin seeds with, stay away from things that might burn in the roasting process like dried herbs. The tried and true flavors like salt and freshly cracked pepper will never disappoint, but really pumpkin seeds are really very receptive to most flavors.
Cinnamon sugar and melted butter is a new one for me, but it really turned out tasty and with a pinch of salt you’ll get a sweet-salty effect like a salted caramel. My 7-year-old’s favorite was Madras Curry Powder with a pinch of salt. The Shichimi Togarashi with salt gave each bite an exciting burst of orange, or sesame, or chile. My favorite, though, was all of them mixed together like an all pumpkin seed Chex mix – sweet, salty, flavorful and all crispy.