Eating Watermelon Seeds

Watermelon is one of our favorite fruits here in Egypt. Getting back home after a hot day in the hot summer of Egypt there is nothing like athe red juicy watermelon pieces to rebalance ones body giving it back what it has lost of water and energy. I tried drinking water after getting back home from such hot days, but it does not return my body to its balance and peace. Only sweet watermelon quenches my thirst and the sugar in it provides me with the energy I need. It is an amazing perfect balance. Yet in Egypt, it is not only the red juicy part of watermelon that we eat, for we also eat the seed kernel after extracting and roasting it.

The process is easy and straightforward. It goes like this: First collect the black watermelon seeds after eating the juicy red parts of the watermelon and instead of throwing them away put them in a colandar to dry out. Then wash them well with tap water and leave them again to dry. After that, put the dried watermelon seeds in a frying pan and turn the heat on. Keep stirring the black seeds in the pan till they are almost completely roasted.

Prepare a cup of water with salt in it. Stirr the salt well in the water. Then when the watermelon seeds are almost complety roasted pour the salted water slowly in the hot pan and keep stirring till the water dries out. At this point, your black tasty watermelon seeds will be ready for you to try out.

When the seeds cool down, pick one and crack it open with your teeth then eat the small kernal inside it. Yummy! That tastes good!

Millions of Egyptians enjoy eating red and juicy watermelon fruits in the hot summer of Egypt, but today not all of them eat the watermelon seed kernals anymore. Yet roasted and salted watermelon seeds remains as one of the traditional Egyptian snacks.

Unlike in other countries, in Egypt we do not have seedless watermelons, so eating roased watermelon seed kernals in summer remains easily within the reach of most Egyptians.