I feed it to my chickens

I think you will find it more satisfying just to pick up a bag of pepitas next time you are at the grocery. While I am all about putting in the work to do the little things like this the pumpkin seeds you are used to come from a different kind of pumpkin.

Swishing them around in water is key, as it loosens the seeds from the squash strings. But the real clincher is a fine mesh strainer. After letting the seeds sit in water for 10 minutes or so, I pour the whole mess into a strainer, and hold the strainer under running water with one hand while loosening the seeds from the strings with the other. Works like a charm.

betteirene and chezsuzanne said it all... one of the big reasons to have kids, after get to order more dishes in restaurants when there are four of you. of course, there's a lot of frontloading when you can't go into a restaurant at all... but the big payoff occurs when they're teens!!

Oh, and then you can put all the stringy stuff in the compost, trash, or annoying neighbor's yard as DonnyG suggests....

Don't know if this will help, and frankly working with the monkeys on this sounds more fun, but I fill a small bowl with water, scoop out all the seeds and surrounding stringy stuff and plunk it all in the water. I swish it all around with my hands and start to separate the strands. The seeds will start to separate from the stringy stuff and float to the top. I can more easily then scoop them up and separately start to remove the stringy stuff to allow more seeds to float to the top. Or you could have the monkeys do this :-)

I love the image of my monkeys shooting pumpkin seeds all around the house! I think it will entice them to tackle the chore. Puking pumpkin, hilarious. Thanks guys!

This is one of the Top 10 reasons for having children. It's fun, and it's also a great way to exercise their fine motor skills and finger dexterity.

Scoop the innards into the biggest bowl you own. Place the big bowl next to a smaller bowl on a newspaper-covered table, then holler for the kids. Show them the seeds you don't want (flat, flabby, almost opaque ones) and the seeds you do want (big fat plump ones) and show them how to shoot them into the smaller bowl by pinching them between a thumb and forefinger. You could also teach them how to flip the seeds into the bowl. Fill the bowl of seeds with cool water. The seeds and little bits of gunk will float, but it's easy to separate them,

Do what DonnyG says to do with the stringy stuff. If you can't bear to throw it out, do this: http://www.extremepumpkins.com/pukingpumpkin.html

Hi monkeymom.Sorry, I guess I was projecting. Sometimes you just have to do the tedious and mundane. I grab a a handful and hold in my findger tips and try to shake loose the hangers. I usually have alot of pumpkins so I'm not to particular about getting all the seeds. Maybe the monkeys could help.

Hi DonnyG. No, I mean how do you separate the stringy stuff from the seeds so you can roast them. Sorry, my question wasn't worded very clearly.

Compost, trash bag, annoying neighbors yard.