The benefits and harms of roasted pumpkin seeds. Why are pumpkin seeds useful for men?

20.09.2019 Lenten dishes

The advent of the microwave oven has greatly simplified our life. Still, everything cooks faster, heats up in a couple of minutes without additional pots and pans, right on the plate! The advantages of a microwave oven are many. Bake a pie? You are welcome! Defrost a whole chicken? Easy! You can also fry pumpkin seeds in it.

Everyone has had such situations when you are going to cook something from a pumpkin, peel it, take out the seeds, and it's a pity to throw them away. After all, this is also a valuable and, moreover, delicious product.

Pumpkin seeds contain many vitamins: almost the entire group B, vitamins E, A, C and D. In addition: polyunsaturated fatty acids, fiber, micro and macro elements important for the body. They help to normalize blood pressure in hypertension, save from nausea during pregnancy and when motion sickness in transport, cleanse the body of toxins. Yes, pumpkin seeds are very healthy. The main thing is, after all that you have read, do not start eating only them, do not forget that the diet should be varied.

During heat treatment, some of the vitamins are lost. But the other part remains, plus everything, they acquire their unique taste only after frying. If you have a microwave, you can put the frying pan aside and cook your favorite delicacy in just two minutes! If until now you did not know how to fry them in the microwave, then the time has come 🙂.

Do you have a fresh pumpkin that you are going to use to make some goodies? When removing seeds, do not rush to throw them away. Collect, rinse thoroughly and leave to dry without covering.

After a couple of days, the seeds are ready to roast.

How to roast pumpkin seeds in the microwave

Spread them out on a flat plate or microwave-safe glass lid (very handy for such things). If you like salty, then now is the time to add salt. It is best to fry at 800 watts. Put them in the microwave for 1 minute, then open the oven, stir and fry for another minute, repeat again.

When ready, pumpkin seeds will take on a characteristic look and smell deliciously. Let them cool down and enjoy your favorite snacks as you please.

By the way, you can not only eat fried pumpkin seeds as they are, but also add them to different dishes. For example, there are recipes where they are added to pumpkin soup. They are also good in any casserole. They can be used to decorate pie, pudding, muffins, homemade bread and even cake. And the muffins are delicious with them.

There is no need to talk about the beneficial properties of pumpkin. Everyone knows that it is rich in vitamins and minerals. But not everyone understands that useful substances are contained not only in the pulp, but also in pumpkin seeds.

Agrarians distinguish three types of pumpkin: fodder (most often used for animal feed), decorative and dining. It is the latter type that is used to prepare a variety of dishes.

Since ancient times, our ancestors drew attention to the fact that pumpkin seeds also have a wide range of medicinal properties.

A large amount of the product can lead to salinity of the body as a whole. Salts are deposited in the joints, which significantly limits their mobility.

You should not get carried away with seeds for people who have problems with the gastrointestinal tract. They can provoke an increase in gastric acidity, or even obstruction. If you really want pumpkin seeds, then limit yourself to a few things.

People who seek to bring their weight back to normal must take into account that the product has a high fat content and, accordingly, a high calorie content.

Many people are very fond of eating pumpkin seeds, and this is not at all surprising. They have an absolutely unique taste and are a storehouse of useful vitamins and minerals. But, even such a simple product must be eaten with caution, since it, like every other, has its own contraindications.

The video shows recipes for cooking pumpkin seeds:

Liked? Like and save on your page!

See also:

More on this topic

Nutritionists have been talking about the beneficial properties of pumpkin seeds for men for a long time. But not all representatives of the stronger sex know about them. Meanwhile, this product is absolutely necessary for men's health.

What are the benefits of pumpkin seeds for men?

Pumpkin seeds contain a huge amount of biologically active substances. First of all, these are A, B, E, F and rare vitamin K, as well as minerals - zinc, phosphorus, potassium, etc., arginine, linoleic and folic acids, omega 3 and omega 6. All these elements have a beneficial effect on the male body , in particular, stimulate the production of the hormone testosterone.

Pumpkin seeds can be used to prevent prostatitis. They must be on the daily menu of men over 35. In addition, they help fight cardiovascular diseases, and, as you know, impotence depends largely on the state of the circulatory system. With the regular use of pumpkin seeds, the metabolism is normalized, the level decreases, and the pressure stops jumping.

But in addition to the beneficial properties of pumpkin seeds, there are contraindications. They are not recommended for people with stomach ulcers, gastritis with high acidity, patients with poor intestinal tract patency. In order not to spoil your teeth, the seeds should not be gnawed, they should be eaten already peeled. Do not forget that the product can cause allergies, so you should not abuse it.

Are roasted pumpkin seeds good for you?

According to experts, it is better to use pumpkin seeds in a slightly dried form - in their raw form, only extracted from the pulp, they can cause flatulence and intestinal upset. But frying pumpkin seeds is not recommended. Although they are tastier in this form, they contain half of the valuable substances, which means that there will be little benefit from such a product.

As if confirming the biblical dictum that there are no prophets in their homeland, the sunflower and pumpkin “found their land” far from their homeland - the lands of the Aztecs and Incas, received real recognition, fertile soil and worthy application in our land.

Of course, the ancient Indians knew about the benefits of these crops, and they worshiped the sunflower as a deity, but for the Europeans who colonized the American continent, the value of pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds as agricultural crops of a wide range of applications was a discovery that came with emigrants from Russia. The earth is round!

The seeds of any plant have a large supply of vitality to germinate and give a new crop. Sunflower and pumpkin seeds are no exception, so their benefits have not been questioned for more than 5-6 thousand years. But their biochemical composition was studied in more detail already in the century of advanced technologies.

A discussion immediately ensued between skeptics and their opponents about the benefits and dangers of seeds. Supporters of a healthy lifestyle and fans of diets also did not stand aside: everyone seeks to speak out about the benefits and dangers of seeds as a food product, at the same time attributing magical healing properties to fried seeds.

Of all that has been said about these grains, one can and should trust only the results of scientific and laboratory research. Logically speaking, the purpose of each product is to supply the body with useful and nutritious substances. Some food contains a lot of vitamins, some - minerals, another - unsaturated fatty acids, and so on.

For example, lemon contains vitamin C, but in order to meet its daily requirement, you need to eat 2 lemons, in order to provide the body with vitamin F, you need to consume 40 g of fried seeds every day. But the list of everything a person needs during the day - vitamins, valuable acids, minerals necessary for regular use is so large that it is impossible to eat everything at once. Yes, seeds are good for you. Yes, there are some restrictions on their use. It is possible that they improve well-being in some chronic diseases, but they should not be substituted for medicine, like all other food products. It is best to consult with your doctor on these issues, and not to succumb to fashion trends and influences from sources, who are often sellers of the product, and their logic of admiration has a completely understandable goal: to expand the sales market.

Let those who disagree be indignant, but food, in addition to benefits, should bring pleasure, and the missing elements for the normal functioning of the body must, nevertheless, be sought in special mineral and vitamin complexes. Therefore, leaving a little aside the question of the benefits and dangers of seeds, consider a simpler issue - home cooking technology.

How to fry seeds: cleaning, sorting and preparing raw materials

Preparing seeds for roasting is a more time-consuming process than actually frying.

The harvested crop must be carefully sorted and all foreign matter removed. Further, if the seeds are collected from different varieties of sunflowers, then it is advisable to sort them by size.

In an industrial setting, this stage is certainly completely mechanized.

The seeds collected at your summer cottage will have iterate over manually. For what? To ensure even roasting of the seeds.

Next stage - washing... At home, this can be done by placing a sieve with seeds under the stream of water. Sunflower seeds are easy to wash: just hold them under pressure to remove dust. If you need to rinse the pumpkin seeds, it is better to wet them first. After that, they need to be rubbed by hand to separate the remaining fibers. It is better to repeat this operation several times in order to completely remove the remaining pulp from their peel.

Next, you need to place a sieve over the tray and wait for the water to drain. It is better to rinse pumpkin seeds immediately after removing them from the pulp, without waiting for it to dry out. If you are not going to fry them right away, then you need to dry them and put them in a dry place. Can be stored in a glass jar in the kitchen or in a plastic bag in the vegetable compartment of the refrigerator.

The perfect way to dry seeds- convection cooker. Fast and reliable. Spread them on a sheet, in a thin layer and just keep them in a hot oven. If conditions permit, then dry the seeds in the sun by placing them on a net. For example, an anti-mosquito net nailed to a wooden frame - a necessary thing in the household - is suitable for this purpose.

Dry large quantities in small portions. It is important to achieve complete drying so that excess moisture during storage does not cause mold and musty odor. Depending on the volume of the product and the individual preference for it, it is better to store the stocks dried, but not fried. That is, the seeds need to be sorted out, washed, dried and stored in this form, and it is advisable to fry them as needed, especially since it will not take much time.

How is pumpkin seeds roasted? This question is asked by many amateurs. If sunflower seeds can be fried in a pan, then pumpkin seeds, after all, it is better to fry in the oven, spreading them on a sheet in a thin layer.

How to fry seeds: heat treatment methods

Probably, there are still Russian ovens in the villages that are ideal not only for preparing many dishes, but are also an ingeniously simple answer to the question of how to fry seeds. This Russian miracle oven, by its design, is nothing more than a modern combi-steam oven, only without a timer and a built-in thermometer. In the conditions of modern urban apartments, one has to be content with the available opportunities.

How to roast seeds in the oven

Oven cooking, including sunflower seeds, is still considered the best way to heat any food. The closed oven chamber ensures uniform heating of food at a constant or controlled temperature. Of great importance is the fact that being in an enclosed space, products retain their valuable nutritional properties as much as possible, which to a greater extent volatilize during heat treatment on the surface of the stove.

Frying seeds in the oven takes no more than five minutes. In this case, the oven must be preheated to 220ºϹ. Place the prepared seeds on a sheet. After five minutes, turn off the stove, but do not get the seeds right away, but stand until the temperature in the oven decreases by half. After that, the seeds should be poured onto a wooden surface and kept covered with a linen napkin until completely cooled. The readiness of the seeds is checked organoleptically.

Larger pumpkin seeds should be roasted accordingly, increasing the roasting time.

Pumpkin seed lovers are often looking for pumpkin varieties with a lot of seeds. The breeders took care of them. These varieties include Sweetie, Volzhskaya Gray, Rossiyanka, Zhemchuzhina, Arbatskaya. However, before you go shopping for seeds, think about the fact that pumpkin seeds should be consumed in very moderation, and pumpkin itself is useful not only for seeds, but also for pulp.

How to fry sunflower seeds in a pan

For this cooking method, you must select the appropriate cookware. First of all, you need a heavy cast-iron pan, preferably a large diameter: the seeds will have to be fried, sprinkling them in a thin layer, for even toasting. Therefore, a large surface area will significantly speed up the process, especially if you need to stock up on fried seeds before the end of your favorite TV series. Set aside the metal spatula for mixing: use a wooden one. You can pre-grease the pan with oil, but you don't have to. It is better to wet the seeds so that the husks are steamed and then better separated from the kernels after drying. As soon as the moisture evaporates, begin to carefully monitor, and mainly listen carefully: the characteristic crackling is a signal that it is time to remove the pan from the heat. Do not stop stirring even after removing the pan. The second point to which you should pay attention is the characteristic aroma of roasted seeds. Just make sure that it is not burnt. That's all. In time, frying seeds in a pan takes from 10 to 15 minutes, or a little more: it all depends on the temperature of the stove and the degree of heating of the pan.

How to fry sunflower seeds in the microwave

If the tips above on how to roast pumpkin seeds, or sunflower seeds, seem too troublesome, then try doing it in the microwave. This method will surely please everyone.

It's very easy: sprinkle the washed and damp grains on a plate. Turn on the microwave for a minute, at maximum power. Remove the plate, stir and set for another minute. After the third time, try it. If the seeds are not roasted enough, then the next approach should last no more than 30 seconds, so as not to be mistaken.

How to fry sunflower seeds in a pan: about flavorings

Roasted pumpkin seeds resemble peanuts. This makes me think: why not treat them with peanut butter before frying to emphasize this taste even more? Such seeds will be very useful if you add them to some original salad, sprinkle bread baked with bran or oat flour.

There are varieties of pumpkin with "naked" seeds, which can be kept in salted or, on the contrary, sweet solution before frying, which can significantly expand the range not only for a snack, but also create interesting dishes.

To summarize, frying sunflower seeds in a pan is incredibly easy!

Knowing how to fry pumpkin seeds will turn them into a healthy and mouth-watering snack.

You can buy seeds for frying on the market or choose yourself from the pumpkin that you have eaten. There are varieties that contain a large number of seeds.

How to fry pumpkin seeds in three different ways

There are several ways to fry, and they all do not require the addition of vegetable oil. As a result, the seeds will be not only tasty, but also moderately high in calories.

  • How to fry pumpkin seeds in a pan? It is best to take a cast-iron pan, such dishes perfectly retain heat. It is well warmed up and the seeds are poured out. Keep them on high heat for several minutes, stirring constantly. After the fire is reduced. When the seeds change color to golden and start emitting a characteristic crackle, it's time to turn off the stove. The seeds are poured into a clean dish. The main condition for cooking them in a pan is constant stirring so that nothing burns out. A mixing spatula is preferable to a wooden one rather than a metal one.
  • How to roast pumpkin seeds in the microwave? This method requires a little preliminary preparation. The seeds are washed and dried for two days. Then they are laid out on a flat dish and sent to the microwave for one minute, turning it on at maximum power. After the time has elapsed, take out the seeds, mix and fry again for a minute. The procedure is repeated until the seeds begin to click.
  • How to roast pumpkin seeds in the oven. Preheat the oven to 200 ° C, pour the seeds onto a baking sheet. Stir every five minutes until golden brown. After turning off the fire, do not get the seeds right away, but let them “reach” for a few minutes.

To make the seeds easier to peel, they are pre-soaked in water for 10-15 minutes. But this trick has a drawback: if you remove the seeds from the heat too early, they will not be as tasty.