Pumpkin seed

Pumpkin seed is an edible seed of a pumpkin or other cultivar of squash , typically rather flat and asymmetrically oval, and light green in color inside a white hull. The word can refer either to the hulled kernel or unhulled whole seed, and most commonly refers to the roasted end product. The pressed oil of the roasted seeds of a specific pumpkin variety is also used in Central and Eastern European cuisine.

They are a popular ingredient in Mexican cooking and are also roasted and served as a snack. Marinated and roasted, they are an autumn seasonal favorite in the rural United States, as well as a commercially produced and distributed packaged snack, like sunflower seeds, available year-round. Pepitas are known by their Spanish name (usually shortened), and typically salted and sometimes spiced after roasting (and today also available as a packaged product), in Mexico and other Latin American countries, in the American Southwest, and in speciality and Mexican food stores. In the Americas, they have been eaten since at least the time of the Aztecs and probably much earlier, since squash was one of the three earliest plant domesticates in the Western Hemisphere, along with maize (corn) and common beans .

They are often simply called pumpkin seeds in English. As an ingredient in mole dishes, they are known in Spanish as pipian. Lightly roasted, salted, unhulled pumpkin seeds are popular in Greece with the descriptive Italian name, passatempo (”pastime”).

Pumpkin seeds have many health benefits, some of which include a good source of protein, zinc, and other vitamins, and are even said to lower cholesterol . One gram of pumpkin seed protein contains as much tryptophan as a full glass of milk. Pumpkin seeds are a good source of magnesium, manganese, phosphorus, and phytosterols.

The seeds are also good sources of protein, and the essential mineralsiron (25 grams (about a US quarter-cup) can provide over 20 per cent of the recommended daily iron intake) as well as zinc, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, and potassium. the seeds also provide essentialpolyunsaturated fatty acids (including at least one ω-3 fatty acid and at least one ω-6 fatty acid).

The seeds (and seed oil,) of pumpkins have been subject to a great deal of research, especially into the treatment of prostate ailments.

According to the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture), one gram of pepita contains 4.31 mg and one gram of pepita protein contains 15.3 mg of L-tryptophan, whereas one cup of milk contains 183 mg. This high tryptophan content makes pepita of interest to researchers studying the treatment of anxiety disorders. Some eat the seeds as preventative measure against onset of anxiety attacks, clinical depression and other mood disorders.

Some studies have also found pumpkin seeds to prevent arteriosclerosis (hardening of the arteries) and to regulate cholesterol levels in the body.

Fatty acid content in pepitas:

The reported concentration of myristate and palmitate (the cholestrogenic fatty acids) for the pepitas ranged from 1.6% to 4.9%. The total unsaturated fatty acid concentration ranged from 9% to 21% of the pepita. The total fat content ranged from 11% to 52% of the pepita. Based on the quantity of alpha-tocopherol extracted in the oil, the vitamin E content of the twelve cultivar seeds ranged from 4 to 19 mg/g of pepita.

According to Nicole Egenberger, ND, clinic director for Remed Naturopaths, certain unnamed studies suggest that pepita ingestion may lower the risk of certain types of kidney stones.