Pumpkin Seed Flour Anyone?

[crunchy_mama]

I *think* this is pretty new to the market somehow I ended up on a gf recipe blog and they were talking about grainfree recipes using pumpkin seed flour- iirc pumpkin seeds are supposed to be very nutritious so I am way intrigued. Anyone used this yet?

http://www.wholelifenutrition.net/si...nseedflour.pdf for a price list apparently it is real new I seen it linked on this site:

http://www.nourishingmeals.com/search/label/grain-free

which I am totally loving by the way!

[crunchy_mama]

according to the profile it is 61% protein and contains all 18 amino acids in good amounts- I am sooooo tempted- I wonder what the sals content of it is- I would think it would make an appropriate substitute for almond flour!!

[mamafish9]

Oooh, thanks. Pumpkin seeds are way lower sals than almonds, and high in zinc - I'll definitely check this out.

ETA: Not sure I'm thrilled with the omega nutrition flour though - they're also selling it as a protein powder, and say it's "partially defatted". So maybe overprocessed for my liking. I wonder if pumpkin seeds could be dehydrated enough to go through my new flour mil....

[crunchy_mama]

Thanks for the sals info- I knew they must be lower as I cannot find them listed on high sals list, but cannot find anything specific.

I just called and talked to their customer service. Shipping is a $10 flat fee- OUCH! Putting it at $6.28 per pound, which is kinda steep. Man- I wish I knew someone IRL who was interested in getting some of this!!! I hate to order 10 lbs without even trying it first- although it is supposed to be a almond flour substitute, so that would be good depending on if we like the flavor and can be used for a protein powder.

[crunchy_mama]

I didn't even notice the defatted- that explains why the fat content is so low.

Man- I need a stinking grain grinder so bad!!! No way- my wee food processer which is currently going out as it is would handle that.

[mamafish9]

Originally Posted by crunchy_mama

I didn't even notice the defatted- that explains why the fat content is so low.

Man- I need a stinking grain grinder so bad!!! No way- my wee food processer which is currently going out as it is would handle that.

Yeah, the "defatted" part doesn't fit with their "gently processed to preserved all the nutrients" description, but most people who want protein don't want all the fat along with it.

I'm still waiting for DH to attach my grain grinder to the wall so I can use it, I think that's our weekend project. I want to try sprouted grains too...

[tanyalynn]

I've ground pumpkin seeds at home in a food processor, the texture turned out very similar to almond flour, and I use them interchangeably. Do you need it really powdery? It wasn't smooth enough to add oil and make something the same consistency as creamy peanut butter, but what I ended up with worked out well in pumpkin muffins (canned pumpkin + ground pumpkin seeds as one of several GF "flours"), I've used it various places (that are totally eluding me right now).

[JollyGG]

just responding so I can find this later and bookmark that site on my home computer.

[lastrid]

I've made it myself too. I think it's easier than making almond "flour' (mine was never very floury) because they are not nearly as hard.

It has a very pleasant, nutty taste that's fairly neutral. I've made good cupcakes with them when it was the only flour we could use.

[FairyRae]

WOW! For those of you who have made it at home, did you use a coffee grinder? Did you dehydrate them first or leave them raw? I ground walnuts (I think) to make a walnut 'flour' in my coffee grinder and there was too much moisture--it got thick and kind of gummy...but, thinking about it, I *did* have the walnuts in the fridge so maybe there was condensation involved?

I'd love to hear if this works in place of almond flour--I'm dying to try some Elana's pantry recipes (most w/ almond flour) but almonds give ds a rash. Pumpkin seeds work fine though...

Must try this!!! So glad I saw this post!

[FairyRae]

So, last night I made my own pumpkin seed flour by throwing a bunch of pumpkin seeds into the food processor (to create a coarse meal), then I tossed them into the coffee grinder and ground them into a finer flour. (Just fyi, as soon as the flour seemed to be moving a little less in my coffee grinder, I stopped it and dumped it out--the flour was fine enough for me and if I left it in too long it would get a little gummy.)

Today I used one of elana's pantry recipes for chocolate chip cookies, replacing the almond flour w/ my pumpkin seed flour, and replacing the grapeseed oil w/ coconut oil, and the agave w/ honey. (Just fyi! I also used enjoy life choc. chips.)

Of course, I worried they wouldn't work (I get nervous when baking gf w/ no guar gum--I've had some seriously runny dissapointments in the past!) so I added an egg which led to me adding more pumpkin seed flour, more baking soda, a bit more honey, yadda yadda yadda, so I can't say for certain that the recipe would have been perfect and amazing as written b/c I didn't try it that way, BUT, these cookies were SOOOOOO yummy! I think, waaayyy better than the bean based cookies I've been making, which I like as well. (My dh who can be picky when it comes to my cooking really liked them as well.) And it got my ds eating pumpkin seeds for the first time in any quantity! Woo hoo--all that zinc!

I could totally taste the pumpkin seed flavor, but they were really delicious cookies! I'm so glad this flour was mentioned here!!!! I totally plan on making more things using this, and I will absolutely forward recipes here if/when they work w/ it.

I'm really excited about this!!!! :

[crunchy_mama]

Cool Fairy Rae- I have soooo got to get a little grinder of some kind!! I have made that recipe of Elana's w/ almond flour it is soooooo delicious! Of course I am going to have to order some bulk pumpkin seeds first they are outrageious around here!

[crunchy_mama]

Don't worry about modifying Elana's recipes they always seem to come out good for me and as you said w/ no gums in there that is a win, win! And w/ the pumpkin seed flour very low allergen- heck you could do some ginger chunks in there and spice it like a snickerdoodle if chocolate is a problem- so many ways to modify that. I bet one made w/ a sesame seed flour would be good in a lemon variety---mmm- add some lemon zest and essence of lemon-mmmm!

[lastrid]

I always soak and dehydrate them before grinding. We still have GI problems and every little bit helps.

[FairyRae]

Originally Posted by lastrid

I always soak and dehydrate them before grinding. We still have GI problems and every little bit helps.

Great to know--I ate LOTS of the batch last night and was my tummy hurting! (That happens to me when I eat a lot of nuts/seeds raw.) I usually soak/dehydrate them b/4 eating, but didn't w/ these since I was cooking them--I'm totally going to do it next time!

[mamafish9]

OK, these are ridiculously good. I made them with raw soaked, dehydrated seeds (bought some, I will make my own next time!). Made them into flour in my cheap blender. I used sugar instead of honey (honey is high sals, so I didn't want to do that first time around), used coconut oil, left out the chocolate chips (DS reacts), and added an egg (made up for the lack of moisture from sugar instead of honey). And they are VANISHING.

So, because I am a geek, and trying to push nutrients into DS and DD, here's what I figured out from whfoods numbers for nutrition per cookie (I got 42 cookies out of a batch with 2.5c pumpkin seed flour - and this is just nutrition from the pumpkin seeds, not anything else):

62 mg mag
135 mg phosphorus
5-6 mcg vit K
5-6 mg zinc

That is by FAR the most nutritious cookie I've ever made . And it doesn't taste like a "good for you" cookie.

[tanyalynn]

So, to clarify... the 73% dark chocolate is a cocoa powder?

Wow, those look really yummy, and would make us so happy. I want to try two versions, a chocolate version and a snickerdoodle-type like crunchy mama talked about. I think I have some soaked, baked (no dehydrator here) pumpkin seeds in my freezer, and this seems like a great use of them.

[chlobo]

Originally Posted by TanyaLopez

So, to clarify... the 73% dark chocolate is a cocoa powder?

Wow, those look really yummy, and would make us so happy. I want to try two versions, a chocolate version and a snickerdoodle-type like crunchy mama talked about. I think I have some soaked, baked (no dehydrator here) pumpkin seeds in my freezer, and this seems like a great use of them.

I thought the dark chocolate was the chips. The cookies don't look "chocolaty". Just the chips.

[tanyalynn]

Originally Posted by chlobo

I thought the dark chocolate was the chips. The cookies don't look "chocolaty". Just the chips.

I SAW the picture, I really did, but somehow my brain went away when I read the recipe.

Okay, so basically throw in some chopped up crystallized ginger and some cinnamon/allspice/cloves-type of seasoning? (I really need to go look up a snickerdoodle recipe, it's been ages since I've had a snickerdoodle).

[mamafish9]

I added totally nothing, and they were yummy that way too. I had a few chopped up pumpkin seeds in them too, and that was nice, I might do a few more next time (DS is less likely to digest those, but I liked them!).