David Pumpkin Seeds

By: Tanya Taylor, PhD | Nov 5, 2005

David's Pumpkin Seeds are roasted and salted. That's important to note because they taste very, very salty. The pumpkin seeds actually don't have a typical 'pumpkin' taste. In fact, the taste is very similar to sunflower seeds, and like sunflower seeds, they come with an outer shell covering them. You can just pop them in your mouth and eat them as is (with the outer shell, which isn't tough or too hard), or you can crack the shell and get the pure seed from the inside. My method for cracking the shell is to put it on it's side and crack along the side with my teeth. I won't pretend it's easy to do though. If you don't crack it all the way, then the seed is impossible to get out intact. And if your tongue gets the shell wet, then you can forget about the seed coming out. And the seed itself is small, not very meaty - although about 4 times as big as a sunflower seed.

It's all over the internet that pumpkin seeds are good for you, and there was actually an article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, which looked at pumpkin seeds and prostate cancer, and found that they may possibly help with that. One serving size is 1/4 cup or about 30 seeds. There are 160 calories, 12 grams of fat (2.5 grams of saturated fat, 6 grams polyunsaturated and 3.5 grams monounsaturated), 10 mg sodium (very low despite the salty taste), 9 grams of protein, and a good source of iron, phosphorous, zinc and magnesium. So great source of minerals, and protein, low sodium and no sugars. But the fat! I know, it's the good kind - mono and polyunsaturated fat is heart healthy - good for you. But 12 grams of fat from 1/4 cup of seeds. That's about the same with most nuts including peanuts and cashews. That's why, although good to eat occasionally, I wouldn't have these, or any other nuts, more than a few times a month.

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