Roasting Pumpkin Seeds

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How lucky we are to have access to an oven on our campus! (Cafeteria regulations do not permit use of the school cafeteria.) Previously, our students scooped and cleaned pumpkin seeds. After that meeting, I gave the seeds a quick 10 minute boil with a touch of salt and then laid them out to dry.

For our second Farm to Table meetup, the kids were ready to roast their harvest. I divided my now 14 students into 3 groups and gave them instructions to drizzle a little olive oil over their bowl of seeds and stir until they had a light sheen. Then they added some salt and pepper to taste. My co-sponsor and I monitored these amounts. Feel free to look up a recipe for specific measurements, or make up your own with your own group. We old fashioned “eye balled” this.

The seeds were poured out on a baking sheet and placed in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for about 20 minutes. Before going in, I had the students describe the color of the pre-cooked seeds. After going in, one student from each group washed their bowl with my co-sponsor and the rest of us stepped out the backdoors (right by the oven) for what would be our first compost discussion (more on that later).

Entering back into that room and being hit with the aroma was the best surprise for all of them! We re-described the color of the seeds and I realized my students didn’t know to use the word “golden” for describing roasted things. “Yeah! Golden!” they piped up in agreement after having fumbled over “Yellow, brown, and dark.”

With the baking time, it was a stretch to fit everything into our 45 minute time, sooo, word to the wise, push getting the seeds prepped and in the oven right away if you’re doing anything similar with your own group of kids.

Ziploc bags of seeds were their treasured harvest to take home, and yes, they enjoyed them all.

Looking for an easy template to organize your own roasting? Download my free one here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Product/Pumpkin-Seed-Roasting-5021792