Cooking question: Do you throw away the seeds?

None of the above listed except green peppers and now I’m not sure why I do that….hmmmm.

I do too. Throwing them away is part of haute cuisine. I’m more down to earth than that. Nothing wrong with seeds unless you want a perfectly smooth texture.

Sometimes, sometimes not. I’m not sure how much nutritional value they have tho?

Melon seeds are put out for the birds. Pepper seeds go into the compost bin. The rest of the items listed are eaten. Why? Er…that’s what Mom always did. I’ll have to re-think this. Thanks for asking this question.

Yeah, interesting question! I almost never follow recipes. But the way I was taught, I throw away the seeds for peppers and melons. Cucumbers, tomatoes, and squash seeds, if they are soft, are fine. I think we can digest any of these. It’s just a matter of culture and preference.

@Pied_Pfeffer Reminds me of a story I read in Reader’s Digest. Daughter had moved out of the house and was on her own for the first time. She wanted to host Thanksgiving for the family. So, Mom came around to help out, and said, “Why is the Turkey sitting in the dish drainer with a big pot over it?
Daughter says, “Because that’s what you always did!”
Mom says, “But…you don’t have a cat.” I LOVED that story!!

I don’t throw them out, occasionally I keep some to try next growing season.

I take out melon seeds but then I toast them, add a little salt and eat them as a snack. green peppers I take out the seeds with the core, because the core is kind of tough. The rest, I just cook the seeds with the rest of the vegetable.

Zuchinni I don’t, I leave the seeds intact. Pumpkin I salt and roast the seeds, but I rarely have a pumpkin, once in a blue moon I carve one for Halloween.

Tomatoes it depends. For pico de gallo I remove the seeds. In salads and when making pasta sauces I don’t remove the seeds.

Melons and peppers I remove the seeds and throw them out.

Cucumbers I don’t remove the seeds.

I don’t take out the seeds unless it’s hot peppers, and then I might use some, depending on how hot I wanted whatever I was making.

I only take out zucchini and cucumber seeds if they’re the huge, tough ones (from a zuke or cuke like a baseball bat). Pumpkin/squash seeds get roasted because they’re yummy. Bell pepper seeds come out with the core, and tomato seeds stay in. Then again, I don’t really juice.

The heat in hot peppers is in the seeds (and I think the ribs). So, for example, I like to make scrambled eggs with jalapenos.

Cooking for kids, I remove everything but the green flesh, which is just a little tangy.

For adults, I ask “how hot?” and adjust accordingly.

Hot peppers it matters what I am making, how hot as @jaytkay put it. Still, I almost always take out the seeds, because the veins are the hottest part. When I make green sauce with sereno I use the seeds though.

Except for eggplant, I tend to remove the seeds from squash, but that’s mostly because 99% of the time I cook squash, it’s being stuffed with quinoa or couscous.

Tomatoes, in, unless there’s a good reason you don’t want wet tomatoes.

Melons, out. Just always have.

Peppers, out. I’m also crazy OCD about midrib.

I leave them in for some things like tomatoes and cucumbers. I reserve them for planting in the case of green peppers. I eat them separately in the case of apples [remember laetrile?] but I chuck them in squash.

What about papaya seeds – does anyone eat them? I stuck five apricot seeds in a pot of dirt after leaving them to dry out for about a week. I had five trees sprout up. Two survived and are about six feet tall after 7 or 8 years. Just this year there were four little apricots but the birds got them before they ripened. I had been told by a tree retailer that they were not self-propagating and that unless the two trees were from different crops? or different something – they would not produce fruit. So I was surprised to see fruit. I also stuck date seeds in the ground and plants grew. Now I “plant” a lot of seeds but nothing else has “taken” yet. Seeds are fun. I always eat the tomato seeds or cucumber seeds.

I remove the seeds from melons because they’re large and tough. Sometimes I save them and toast them. Tomatoes and cucumbers I leave them in.

I save them for a while, thinking I’m going to plant them and after 3 months I throw them away.