The hulless pumpkins are the best ones to grow if you want to eat the seeds. They are all Cucurbita pepo, in the same family as most summer squash & pumpkins. As their name implies, they have no shell on the seed. The pumpkins themselves, in general, are somewhat unattractive, and their flesh tends to be of poorer quality than pie pumpkins. There are several varieties, most of them open-pollinated. "Lady Godiva" (there is also a bush version), "Sonoran Hulless", "Streaker Jack", "Styrian Hulless", and "Snackerjack" are a few. Sand Hill Preservation carries three of them.

Hey there- It's me- Julie_MN- Thanks for contacting me! I have not sent my excess into Bake Mom yet- but I am sure the day will come! These must have come from someone else but ultimately from me. I have offered these for trade- I usually collect seed from plants I grow- and I have bought these pumpkins also- and used them for the holiday- and who wants to toss a good seed- so I have collected these seeds from store bought pumpkins as well. The pumpkin gathered from would most assuredly look like "Jack be Little". That said, the thing with pumpkins is that they are in the genus Cucurbita- which includes gourds, cucumbers, squash and melons. All of these plants will cross pollinate with each other resulting in a greatly varied parentage, if you have busy bees in your neighborhood. You yourself do not have to be growing another Cucurbita for this to happen- it could be growing as far as a bee can fly- This cross pollinating thing happens with many different types of plants- I started 100 plants of Aqulegia red and white origami- only 1 looked like the parent. I had even fewer looked like the parent babies with Heuchera 'Midnight Velvet'. I can not say about the "Hybrid" status of this plant- but I have learned (usually the hard way)- that many seeds hand gathered and open pollinated in our gardens that are not purchased from commercial growers, have a far greater chance of cross pollinating, making for unusual "children". True, some are more stable than others- but genus Cucurbita is well known for its ability to cross pollinate. I hope your experience with these was a good one- and it sure was fruit-full by the looks of your photo! It is great to see photos of the "grand kids" - even if they prove to be not what was expected.... Julie

Hmm.... Thought I replied to your follow-up over a week ago, but I must not have hit the "post" button. Thanks for the info on the naked seed pumpkins. Do you know if the pumpkins themselves are also as good for eating as the the pie pumpkins? I'm thinking I'll have to give these a shot either next year or the year after. I actually eat the seeds shell-on and have never had them any other way. I also found buttercup squash at the store. It had good seeds although being fairly dry, they were harder to get out. I ordered most of my veggie seeds yesterday, including a buttercup and kabocha to try this year. Hopefully the kabocha will be smaller than the one I got at the store and have less fibrous shells on the seeds.

You need to look into what your state regulates for sale as food and as a prepared food. Selling the seeds already prepared as food (roasted) will probably require a license as will the kitchen you prepare the food in. You might try growing those specialty pumpkins developed for seed production and show folks the roasted seed or give out samples when they buy a pumpkin. Roasted pumpkin seeds are my favorite thing about the fall, but most of my friends don't really care for them.