Smoked Paprika Pumpkin Seeds + Food Waste

It's the last day of November, and I promise (for this year!) this is my last pumpkin related recipe! I listened to a podcast by 'Kitchen Club', which is hosted by Sarah Malcolm and Serena Louth. They had an episode hosting, Melissa Hemsley where she discussed food waste and how dramatic the implication of food waste is. Some shocking facts are:

• 1.3 billion tons of food is wasted each year

• If wasted food was a country, it would be the third largest producer of carbon dioxide in the world, after the United States and China

• Food waste in rich countries (222 million tons) is approximately equivalent to all of the food produced in Sub-Saharan Africa (230 million tons)

• Food waste in Europe alone could feed 200 million hungry people

The podcast encouraged listeners to use their eyes when they are using foods and to try and use every part of that piece of food. This week I've brought you a recipe to use pumpkin seeds from your pumpkin. So often, they are scooped out and put straight in the bin - however these smoked paprika pumpkin seeds are perfect for a crunchy salad topping, on top of soup or even as a little snack!

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Prep and Cooking Time: 15 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• Pumpkin Seeds from 1 large pumpkin

• 1 tbsp olive oil

• 2 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp ground cumin

• Salt and Pepper

METHOD

1. Clean pumpkin seeds from pumpkin string using cold water and colander.

2. Lightly dry the seeds using a paper towel then drizzle olive oil, smoked paprika, ground cumin and black pepper and salt. Mix evenly in amongst the pumpkin seeds.

3. Roast in a preheated oven at 180C for 10-12 minutes. Leave to cool and enjoy!

Happy Cooking!

Ruth xxx