The other day I happened to be at 7-11. I was there to see if they were honoring the annual Slurpee Day on July 11. No dice. However, while pacing those short aisles looking at all the candy and stuff that’s bad for you, I saw some Pumpkin Seeds and decided to pick them up for review at Cheap Eats.

This was a small bag, about 2 and a half ounces, and was pretty expensive (at least I thought so) for 69 cents. You can probably get bulk cheaper. However, as I talked about in the Sunflower Seed review, bulk is not always better. That freshness quotient tends to go down with bigger bag.

This was the same brand “David” which is made by ConAgra Foods. Unfortunately (or fortunately for some of us) there was no big picture of Derek Jeter grinning from ear to ear on the package. Instead, there was a big picture of a pumpkin. Maybe they should have carved eyes on it or something to make it into a Jack O Lantern. Or maybe they should have carved Derek Jeter’s face in there. Might make more people pick it up.

So I have heard that you can make pumpkin seeds easily yourself in the oven with the innards of your Halloween Jack O Lantern. I mean, you’re going to throw away that stuff anyhow… what a racket, come to think of it. They turned something that you’d otherwise throw away into a snack to sell. Kind of like restaurants selling Baked Potato Skins…

But it’s July so there aren’t too many pumpkins around. So let’s see how these tasted.

First, like all pumpkin seeds on the market that are still in shell there is a veritable “salt crust” surrounding each seed. I mean the entire outer shell is a layer of salt basically. So, unlike sunflower seeds it is difficult to keep sucking of these things one after the other. You have to be extra careful how much “Salt Time” your tongue does or else you’ll go numb (and thirsty) after just 10-15 of them.

The taste of pumpkin seeds is a bit different than other “normal” seeds. They have a distinct flavor, not exactly “pumpkin-ey”. Hard to describe. These were also nice and crisp which is good because I’ve had ones that were near soggy before. Mealy seeds = no fun.

I think there is a right way to crack these, but here is how I do it. I stand the Pumpkin Seed on its side between my front teeth. Then I gently press downward, starting near the pointy tip and move gradually down the length in little increments. When it is split down the side fully, I take a tongue tip and insert it (sounds sexy don’t it) between the 2 halves and flick out the seed into my mouth.

Whew! Lotta work for a little seed. But pumpkin seeds are considerably more “meaty” than sunflower seeds. I think you get more seed for amount of work put into cracking them open. Of course, you can always get the shelled variety, but then what fun is that?

Cheap Eats Score: 7/10