Top-Quality Oil Made by Roasting and Mechanically Pressing Pumpkin Seeds

The Ovanin family’s pumpkin seed oil is sold as a pure product, not diluted with sunflower oil. That distinction has helped build demand for the family farm in Novi Farkašić near Petrinja.

The family began growing hulless pumpkins on about half a hectare, despite doubts that the crop would succeed locally. It now cultivates around five hectares and is looking for more land. A contract grower will also produce the pumpkins, which Kristijan Ovanin plans to collect with his van before washing and drying the seeds and sending them for processing to Agro Noršić in Zagreb.

Annual production has reached about 400 liters, all of which the family sells at its farm and at fairs. Ovanin, a 40-year-old corrections officer who took over management of the farm seven years ago, says the family chose to make extra-virgin oil because the market is poorly controlled and contains many different-quality products.

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We decided that ours would be extra-virgin.

The oil comes from roasting and mechanically pressing pumpkin seeds. About two kilograms of dried seeds are needed to produce one liter. The family also makes pumpkin flour and roasted salted seeds, while raising pigs and growing corn, barley and triticale for their feed.

Wild animals have caused serious damage to the crops, so the fields are protected by an electric fence powered by a battery and a small solar panel. The family’s oil won two gold and two silver medals at the Alpe Adria exhibition in Varaždin during the past four years. Those awards encouraged further investment and efforts to improve quality.

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It is a top-quality oil, 100 percent pure, made by roasting and mechanically pressing pumpkin seeds.