Can I eat raw pumpkin seeds left out overnight?

October 31, 2023 9:09 AM

Yesterday I carved a pumpkin and carefully separated the seeds from the pulp. Then I left the seeds in a bowl on the table overnight by accident. Can I now roast and eat them or are they trash?
posted by bq to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

It's to the benefit of the roasting process that the seeds be left out to dry overnight. Unless you left them sitting in fermenting pulp (carefully separated = I'm assuming not) then you've basically done what I do every year on purpose.
posted by phunniemee at 9:11 AM on October 31, 2023 [19 favorites]

We left ours with pulp out overnight outside in a covered bowl and roasted them the next night. They're great!

And this is the first year we've boiled before roasting and it made a big difference in the final product.
posted by msbrauer at 9:14 AM on October 31, 2023 [8 favorites]

This is totally fine. Even if they sat in the pulp overnight, it would not be a problem.
posted by ssg at 9:29 AM on October 31, 2023 [1 favorite]

I often leave mine out to dry for a day or two before roasting with no issues.
posted by doift at 10:10 AM on October 31, 2023 [1 favorite]

Best answer: I’m roasting mine (left out over night) literally as I type this.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 11:18 AM on October 31, 2023 [3 favorites]

I dry mine for at least a day before roasting. In fact, this reminded me I had some dried ones put aside and I just popped them into the toaster oven.
posted by advicepig at 11:21 AM on October 31, 2023 [2 favorites]

I'm with msbrauer on boiling before roasting - it dramatically increased the crunch and pop of the final product. If you are even slightly concerned about the safety of the seeds, boiling would sterilize them.

(Some discussion here on why it works).
posted by graphweaver at 11:31 AM on October 31, 2023 [4 favorites]

I always leave mine out for days to dry completely before roasting.
posted by dabadoo at 11:38 AM on October 31, 2023

Response by poster: Thank you, internet friends, the pumpkin seeds have been boiled and are now drying in preparation for tonight's roasting. If I get food poisoning, I will blame the internet.
posted by bq at 12:30 PM on October 31, 2023 [11 favorites]

I have eaten mine and so did my husband so far we’ve lived to tell the tale.
posted by St. Peepsburg at 2:34 PM on October 31, 2023 [1 favorite]