Personally, I think purchasing raw, organic pumpkin seeds are a great healthy investment when shopping at a HFS as opposed to buying commercial pre-packaged
pumpkin seeds.

You can toast raw pumpkin seeds on the stovetop or in the oven.  Add your own spices and other condiments at home to jazz them up: wheat free tamari, sea salt, dry mustard, tumeric, cumin, seaweed flakes, chili peppers, olive oil, ghee, or anything one desires.

Alia

Alia,

Is it OK to eat them raw?

My.

Yes, I normally eat them raw. I also like to just soak and dry them.

I almost always eat pumpkin seeds raw, but I always first soak them overnight.  

I like the simple taste of pumpkin seeds with no additional flavorings.

Alia

I like pumpkin seeds raw but they sure don't like me, so I soak them overnight and roast them gently, the same process I use with nuts. Yum! I keep a bag of them in my cubbyhole at work and when everyone else is munching Cheez-Its or Combos (which used to be my favorite savory snack), I grab the pepitas and munch too. Add some cayenne and tamari--woooo! Good stuff!

1.  fresh, roasted, salted pumpkin seeds in the shell = one of my top five fave foods

2.  raw pumpkin seeds =    bird food alert!

After opening raw pepitas from the HF store I always refrigerate to keep flavour and crunchy freshness intact - maybe they don't have a long shelf life without their shells?

Any shelled nut and/or seed such as shelled walnuts, pumpkin seeds in the shell will have a longer 'shelf' life because its natural covering protects it from bacteria, oxidation, natural light.

Refrigerating or freezing nuts and seeds (especially larger quantities) upon purchasing them is a good measure to keep them fresh.

Alia

Quoted from Brighid45

I like pumpkin seeds raw but they sure don't like me,

I dragged this thread up as I was searching for pumpkin seed info... I ate some raw & altho' I loved their simple taste & crunch, I seemed to react with very slight indigestion (only when I went to bed some hours later) I also got usual inflammation on face reaction, but not till morning - usually it an be within half an hour
Not sure if that was also because I had bought them from a bulk bin (who knows how fresh?) & also had not thought to keep them in the fridge...(*duh*) They are also medium on the salicylate list so could be a factor too
I ate them with mackerel, as I felt like I needed the B vitamins...Was a yummy meal!! What sort of reactions do other people get?

Quoted from shells

After opening raw pepitas from the HF store I always refrigerate to keep flavour and crunchy freshness intact - maybe they don't have a long shelf life without their shells?

I've had some very severe diarhhea from eating pumpkin seeds- have read they have some kind of effect on intestinal parasites.

Here are my favorites available at my local grocer: Go Raw brand

http://www.goraw.com/products/Sprouted_Pumpkin_Seeds

Individuality always at play! After reading this post, I am thankful not to experience diarrhea since I eat pumpkin seeds daily, and that I'm not orange since I eat sweet potatoes each day as well!

A favorite pumpkin seed treat: pop a square of dark chocolate in mouth and toss in some pumpkin seeds. Yummy.

I also add them to muffins and love them in salads. I also have made pumkin seed pesto with spelt pasta.

Funny that. I had diarrhea the other day and wasn't sure what it was from. Now I know!

Quoted from Penster

Funny that. I had diarrhea the other day and wasn't sure what it was from. Now I know!

Yes, pumpkin seeds expel parasites:
http://www.naturalnews.com/027875_pumpkin_seeds_parasites.html

As an A, I have been making myself  what I thought was a healthy mix for snacking. As an explorer, peanuts and pumpkin seeds from my mix are avoids for me. Many other things as well I discovered are now avoids as well. I will miss them.

PrincessMia, are you following SWAMI or the GT book? I get pumpkin seeds as superfood in my SWAMI.
I had some last night and got big time stomach pain had to take Deflect before bed and this morning - DD had a stomach flu this weekend, I wonder if that's it?

Hi, I am new to this site and was hoping to get some help.  I am also type A- and was pegged as an explorer based on the books tests. I don't know my secretor status (can't seem to get it here in BC Canada). However, when I did the strength test in the book, I tested evenly with Teacher, Explorer, and Warrior!!  I am so confused and really don't know where to go from here. I keep seeing SWAMI a lot on the site. What is is and why would it give different results than those from the tests in the book?  Can your genotype change over time? Please help!

Hi Fran76 - Hope this helps  

Quoted Text

SWAMI is really fantastic!!! You know how the GenoType takes a bunch of information and puts you in a classification? Well SWAMI takes even more lots more and runs you through a computer matrix system. The result is an individual diet, designed just for you. You'll notice when you look around the forums, we all seem to have different food options, even though we may be the same blood type or geno type - that's SWAMI! A diet as individual as you are  

When you purchase a SWAMI, what you receive in the mail is an access code, then you go online and it has you enter a bunch of information - some is time-locked, some you can go back and change again and again as you gather the goods. It asks for your personal health history, family medical history, that kind of thing. It has room for tons more information that you probably won't know, but that's okay, whatever you input will be enough, so don't feel like you won't get the full benefit because you have to leave a lot of blanks.

This is an example SWAMI : It's very sophistacted, but extremely easy to use. I was completely intimidated at first, but it turned out to be a lot of fun!  

http://www.dadamo.com/media/swami.htm

Hi Fran!! Sorry you are confused (I can understand that) Swami is especially good apparently for people like that...Nonnies (non secretors & explorer types) It is a computer programme you buy that you input your details into & it computes your strength testing for a particular genoptype, but it is really a combo of & unique to you!!

I'm starting to wonder how I will ever be able to tolerate them.  I don't have a bad reaction every time but when I do wow- up all night with diarhhea!

Quoted from 14442

I'm starting to wonder how I will ever be able to tolerate them.

Hi Sahara, have you tried the brand Wholefoodie posted previously? When I don't make my own from the raw seed, it's the only brand I trust.

Quoted from Wholefoodie

Go Raw brand

http://www.goraw.com/products/Sprouted_Pumpkin_Seeds

Hmmm... this is an interesting thread...

I have been eating pumpkin seeds for years and never noticed any negative reaction at all. And now SWAMI also says are diamond...

But I have to eat pureed food right now, or things that break up without grinding anyway. (Have braces on teeth to move them to support new jaw position needed due to TMJD and don't now have a 'splint' that fits to enable me to chew... probably another 6 - 9 months before I will be able to chew well! )

Anyway, the other day I pureed some GoRaw sprouted pumpkin seeds, moistening with a little walnut oil (which I eat all the time with no problems). And have had it in the fridge to eat now and then.

Yesterday I had a really busy day and short on time to eat, so I spread some of the p.seed 'butter' on a couple slices sprouted spelt bread and snacked on that over a 4 hour period in the evening while working...

And this morning I woke up to diarrhea pretty much all day long. Didn't connect the dots until reading this thread just now!

Since I never had this reaction to pumpkin seeds before, I'm guessing it must be because I didn't have much other food to eat all day. Probably just overkill on the p.seeds, hmm? Or someone above mentioned an effect on parasites? That doesn't sound good. Or maybe it IS good and they were expelled??  

Sounds feasible? I do find it awfully hard (& I'm pretty sure I recall I am not alone here) to tell the difference between a good effect (as could be in this case) & a bad reaction

Yeah, it can be puzzling... but I think I will decide not to stress out over it!  

It does remind me though, that restricting my food intake can be a bit 'un-balancing'.  

Quoted from veggiequeen

Yesterday I had a really busy day and short on time to eat, so I spread some of the p.seed 'butter' on a couple slices sprouted spelt bread and snacked on that over a 4 hour period in the evening while working...

And this morning I woke up to diarrhea pretty much all day long. Didn't connect the dots until reading this thread just now!

Since I never had this reaction to pumpkin seeds before, I'm guessing it must be because I didn't have much other food to eat all day. Probably just overkill on the p.seeds, hmm? Or someone above mentioned an effect on parasites? That doesn't sound good. Or maybe it IS good and they were expelled??  

It sounds like it was possibly a combination of too much reliance on this one beneficial food and it's healing effects on you.  As long as you felt OK even with the D, it was probably a healing episode and good for you.

In my case I tried coconut oil earlier in the week which set things off.  I don't like pumpkin seeds much so won't  worry.  Once in a while I pick up the commercial roasted David's seeds, its one of the few snacks at the convenience store.  The reaction was really bad though.