We’ve all been there where you’re not sure whether the food you’re about to eat will kill you, send you to the toilet for a few days or pass through your system like it’s supposed to.
Read on to find out how likely it is your pumpkin seeds are still edible. It always seems like a gamble to risk it.
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How to tell if raw pumpkin seeds are bad?
Unfortunately, unlike other foods like vegetable soup or milk, pumpkin seeds can go bad without looking like they’re definitely out of date.
Bad odour, stale or mould are instant indicators that your pumpkin seeds are bad.
You can try to taste a seed to find out if they’re stale and they will likely not harm you with just a bite of one seed. Especially if there are no other smells or visual ques to indicate they’re gone off.
Spit them out straight away if you taste staleness but eating just one or two out of date seeds will not harm you. Especially if they are showing no other obvious signs of being out of date.
How long do raw pumpkin seeds last
Well, the general guidelines are 1 – 3 months…
However, factors such as whether the packet of seeds have been opened, the temperature of the room you store them in and how sanitary your hands were when you last handled the seeds all come in to play.
Do the below task to give yourself an idea
Ask yourself the following questions. If you answer no to most of these then it is likely your pumpkin seeds need to visit the bin before they visit your mouth:
- Did you keep your pumpkin seeds in a cool place?
- Did you keep your pumpkin seeds away from moisture?
- Were they stored in a tightly sealed airtight container?
- Are your seeds still within the expiration date?
- Did you store your seeds in the fridge or freezer?
Based on your answers you may be able to estimate how quickly your seeds may have gone off
How long do roasted pumpkin seeds last for?
Roasted Pumpkin seeds don’t last nearly as long as raw pumpkin seeds.
Of course your first line of defence is to check the expiration date on the pack.
If that is no longer available, once opened, roasted or salted seeds will stay fresh for 1 – 2 weeks. Past this they may be edible but may go stale.
If you have kept them in an air tight container however, you may get away with keeping them for up to three weeks
How long do Pumpkin seeds last before planting?
If you are looking to plant your pumpkin seeds it is very important that you thoroughly clean the seeds you harvest and sun dry them before storage.
Once you have done this your Pumpkin seeds will be able to last before planting up to 6 years.
Just simply plant them half an inch into wet soil and wait a couple of weeks to find out if they’ll sprout.
Pumpkin seeds can be one of the hardest things to tell if it is gone off, it is important you check if they’re in date if you plan on planting your seeds too as this could be a problem when growing. So check your soil is in date and check your seeds are in date too.