Latin name:Semen Cucurbitae
Botanical source: Cucurbita pepo
Used part:Raw seed kernel
Appearance:Brown to red fluid oily liquid
Odour:Typical vegetable seed nutty odour
CAS#:8016-49-7
Introduction:
Pumpkin seed oil, a culinary specialty of south eastern Austria (Styria), eastern Slovenia (Styria and Prekmurje), north western Croatia , adjacent regions of Hungary, is a European Union Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) product.
Today the oil is an important export commodity of Austria and Slovenia. It is made by pressing roasted, hulled pumpkin seeds (pepitas), from a local variety of pumpkin, the "Styrian oil pumpkin" (Cucurbita pepo var. styriaca, also known as var. oleifera). It has been produced and used in Styria's southern parts at least since the 18th century. The earliest confirmed record of oil pumpkin seeds in Styria (from the estate of a farmer in Gleinstätten) dates to February 18, 1697.
The viscous oil is light to very dark green to dark red in colour depending on the thickness of the observed sample. The oil appears green in thin layer and red in thick layer. Such optical phenomenon is called dichromatism.[1] Pumpkin oil is one of the substances with strongest dichromatism. Its Kreft's dichromaticity index is -44.[2] Used together with yoghurt, the colour turns to bright green and is sometimes referred to as "green-gold".
