Alguashte (Salvadoran Pumpkin Seed Seasoning) Recipe

[Photograph: Karla Vasquez]

Alguashte is a seasoning standard in El Salvador made up of floor pumpkin seeds and used as a condiment for fresh-cut fruits like mangoes both ripened and green, jicama, oranges, and different tropical fruits and seeds. The fragrant, nutty ingredient can be utilized in savory Salvadoran dishes.

The pumpkin seeds used for alguashte are sometimes both from ayote or pepian, two completely different squash varieties (although some folks use the phrases interchangeably). Relying on the place you store, you could not be capable of discover pumpkin seeds labeled with the squash selection particularly, which is okay so long as the pumpkin seeds you purchase nonetheless have the husk on—it is the husk that, as soon as toasted and floor with the internal seeds, brings a deeper and extra advanced taste to what’s in any other case a seemingly easy, two-ingredient condiment.