Crops to Candy

Don’t let the heat wave fool you: It’s pumpkin season. If you need proof, you can find it tomorrow at the Topsfield Fair, where dozens of farmers will haul in Jabba-the-Hutt-sized gourds as part of the fair’s Giant Pumpkin Contest. Last year’s winner tipped the scales at 1,347.5 pounds—about half the weight of a Mini Cooper. (Bostonist also recommends checking out the fair’s birds of prey, chick hatchery, and racing pigs.) But if you can’t make it out to Topsfield, we suggest picking up a regular 12-pounder at your grocery store and making pumpkin-seed brittle. There’s not much more to it than toasting pumpkin seeds, and it beats the heck out of candy corn.

Pumpkin-Seed Brittle

Ingredients

1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, straight from the pumpkin and unwashed
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
salt
1/8 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 teaspoon water
cayenne pepper (optional)

Toss the seeds with the oil and salt (and a dash of cayenne pepper, if you’d like) and spread on an ungreased baking sheet. Bake them in the middle of a preheated 250°F oven for about an hour (stirring every 15 minutes), or until the seeds are golden and crisp.

Line a baking sheet with buttered parchment paper. In a heavy saucepan (make sure it’s clean, or the caramel won’t come together), combine the sugar, corn syrup, and water and bring to a boil over moderately high heat, stirring only until the sugar dissolves. Adjust the heat so that the caramel is bubbling slowly; resist the urge to stir! Cook until a deep amber caramel forms; it should take about 8 to 9 minutes. Remove from the heat. Add the pumpkin seeds and the dissolved baking soda and stir until combined, then quickly pour the mixture onto the baking sheet, spreading it into a thin layer. Cool until the brittle is hardened.

Recipe adapted from Food & Wine and Gourmet. Photo by Lisa Scanlon.