[the scene opens up with AB at the table AND with many sized
jack-o-lanterns laying around in just as many designs, his hand
is poised with a knife as he's about to carve a fresh one]

    Oh, hi. Alton Brown, here. As you can see, I enjoy carving pumpkins. I pretty much carve them from Halloween right through New Years to Valentines Day. It's, well, it's very relaxing. You know, of course when you carve as many pumpkins as I do, you do accumulate some seeds. Heh. Lots and lots of seeds. Now, I used to just throw them away. Now, I eat them thus extracting their potent nutritional power. It's kind of like absorbing those little pumpkin souls. [indicates the jack-o-lanterns around him] Ha, ha!
    All right. Step one, is, of course, cutting off the top of their lucky little heads ... gourds. Heh, heh. I use a small saw from the hardware store for the job. But a serrated knife would do just as well.
    Now anyone who has ever carved a Halloween pumpkin knows, there's a lot of "stuff" in there which we'll have to scoop out. I like an old fashioned ice cream spade for the job, but any big metal spoon with a short handle will do. As far as separating the seeds from the pulp, I go with a nice big sink of cold water. Get enough water in there, and the seeds will float to the top and you can simply strain them off. Now these have got to be dry before they can be cooked. So put them out, just spread them, onto paper toweling or a lint free tea towel to dry.
    The next day, fire up medium heat, put down a 10 inch skillet, 2 teaspoons of olive oil go in. And when that's good and hot, one cup of our seeds along with some seasoning in the form of kosher salt—½ teaspoon—and a few good grinds of pepper. Now just toss that, almost constantly, for about 5 minutes or until the seeds reach medium brown darkness and smell nice and nutty. Then, just dump them into a bowl lined with paper towels and wick away all of the excess oil.

Transcribed by Michael Roberts
Proofread by Michael Menninger

Last Edited on 08/27/2010