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Pepita (from Mexican (スペイン語:pepita de calabaza), "little seed of squash") is a Spanish culinary term for the pumpkin seed, the edible seed of a pumpkin or other cultivar of squash (genus ''Cucurbita''). The seeds are typically rather flat and asymmetrically oval, and light green in color and may have a white outer hull. Some cultivars are hulless, and are grown only for their seed. The seeds are nutrient-rich, with especially high content of protein, dietary fiber and numerous micronutrients. The word can refer either to the hulled kernel or unhulled whole seed, and most commonly refers to the roasted end product. ==Cuisine== Pumpkin seeds are a common ingredient in Mexican cuisine and are also roasted and served as a snack.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Pepitas (Pumpkin Seeds) )〕 Marinated and roasted, they are an autumn seasonal snack in the United States, as well as a commercially produced and distributed packaged snack, like sunflower seeds, available year-round. Pepitas are known by their Spanish name (usually shortened), and typically salted and sometimes spiced after roasting (and today also available as a packaged product), in Mexico and other Latin American countries, in the American Southwest, and in speciality and Mexican food stores. The earliest known evidence of the domestication of ''Cucurbita'' dates back 8,000–10,000 years ago, predating the domestication of other crops such as maize and common beans in the region by about 4,000 years. Changes in fruit shape and color indicate intentional breeding of ''C. pepo'' occurred by no later than 8,000 years ago.〔(【引用サイトリンク】title=Cucurbitaceae—Fruits for Peons, Pilgrims, and Pharaohs )〕 The process to develop the agricultural knowledge of crop domestication took place over 5,000–6,500 years in Mesoamerica. Squash was domesticated first, with maize second and then beans being domesticated, becoming part of the Three Sisters agricultural system.〔 〕 As an ingredient in mole dishes, they are known in Spanish as ''pipián''. A Mexican snack using pepitas in an artisan fashion is referred to as ''pepitoría''. Lightly roasted, salted, unhulled pumpkin seeds are popular in Greece with the descriptive Italian name, ''passatempo'' ("pastime"). The pressed oil of the roasted seeds of a ''Cucurbita pepo'' subsp. ''pepo'' var. 'styriaca' is also used in Central and Eastern Europe as cuisine, such as Pumpkin seed oil. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Pepita」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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