Millions of homes will be busy carving Halloween pumpkins to display or making pumpkin pies or cookies for festive celebrations. One underrated part of a pumpkin is the seeds, and here are five resourceful ways to use them.

More often than not, people remove pumpkin seeds from the flesh and throw them away. But you can plant them, cook with them, or use them to feed birds in your garden. The seeds need to be cleaned and prepared after scooping them from the pumpkin, but it’s quick and easy.

If you know how to grow pumpkins, then why not use as much of the resulting fruit as possible? Rather than just throwing them in the trash, think more sustainably and put these versatile seeds to good use. Here are five ways to use leftover pumpkin seeds after Halloween. (And if you want to grow a wider range of pumpkins next year, this pumpkin seed variety pack on Amazon has organic seeds for six diverse types.)

1. Save Seeds to Plant Next Year

The seeds you remove from a pumpkin can be cleaned, stored, and planted next year to grow your own pumpkins again. Harvesting and collecting seeds from vegetables and flowers is a great sustainable way to garden, and saving pumpkin seeds to replant is something I do every year at home.

It is best to save seeds from heirloom pumpkin varieties, as you know what you are getting. Rather than hybrid pumpkins, which are more of a gamble, as you cannot guarantee the exact type that will grow from the seeds.

After you harvest the pumpkin seeds, rinse them in a strainer to remove any bits of pulp and let them dry. Lay them out in a single layer on a dry paper towel and leave them for a few days – they need to be fully dry before storing or risk going moldy.

Once dry, store the seeds in breathable paper envelopes or airtight glass jars. These seed envelopes available on Amazon have space to write the type and the date they were collected.

2. Add the Seeds to Your Compost

Leftover pumpkins can be turned into garden fertilizer by chopping them up and adding them to a home compost pile. It is an eco-friendly way to deal with leftover Halloween pumpkins.

You can add every part of a pumpkin to a compost pile, including the flesh, skin, seeds, stems, and any foliage. However, it is best to boil or crush the seeds before composting pumpkins to prevent unwanted sprouting.

If you just add the seeds to the compost, they are likely to sprout unless the pile gets really warm. The compost needs to reach temperatures over 130°F for extended periods to guarantee that most seeds won’t survive. This can be difficult over winter, unless you do hot composting rather than traditional cold composting. You can get a hot composter bin at Amazon.

Boiling the pumpkin seeds or crushing them into smaller pieces before adding them stops them from germinating. It ensures you won’t face a crop of surprise pumpkin plants growing from the heap next year.

3. Roast the Seeds for Snacks

Pumpkin seeds are highly nutritious and rich in minerals, fiber, and antioxidants. Roasting them makes them even more nutritious, as the body can absorb and digest the minerals more efficiently.

When you roast seeds from a pumpkin you grew at home, you know they are super-fresh and have gone only from your garden to the kitchen.

After scooping the seeds from the flesh, wash and dry them well. Lay them in a single layer on a baking sheet and drizzle them with a little olive oil. Bake them at 300°F for 30-45 minutes, tossing them halfway through, until golden.

Enjoy them after cooling, or store them in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Roasted sunflower seeds make excellent garnish or can be added into soups, salads, or granola.

4. Use Them to Feed Birds

Birds can also enjoy leftover pumpkin seeds as a snack. They make a high-energy food source full of beneficial nutrients and are ideal for feeding birds during the winter.

You can feed birds raw or roasted pumpkin seeds. If you do roast them, don’t salt or season them. It is best to crush the pumpkin seeds into smaller pieces, so they are easier for birds, particularly smaller ones, to eat.

Pumpkin seeds can be served on their own or mixed with other seeds (like this wild bird feed at Walmart). Don’t leave out large amounts, as pumpkin seeds can spoil quickly in wet weather, especially raw ones. Leave them out in small amounts to reduce waste and avoid attracting other wildlife.

5. Make a Sweet Treat

Brittle is a hard sweet confectionery usually containing nuts – picture the classic peanut brittle. Different variations, though, can also be made with seeds, including leftover pumpkin seeds.

Why not use some leftover seeds for nutritious roasted snacks, save some to plant, and use the rest for a candy treat? Call it the best of both worlds.

Clean and dry the seeds to remove any pulp. Mix butter and sugar in a pan until it dissolves and turns a dark golden color. Then add the pumpkin seeds, put the mixture into a roasting tray, and press down with another tray. Let this cool and then break it into pieces.

Pumpkins aren’t just for Halloween; they can last for many months if stored properly. The key to long storage life is curing pumpkins after picking to harden the skin, keeping them in a dry, dark, cool place, and always storing them off the floor. Get those factors right, and you can store pumpkins for up to six months.

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