Grown by the Aztecs and Southwest Indians for millennia, the small grain is rich in lysine and the young leaves are high in calcium and iron. This grain nutritionally complements beans. Higher in protein than milk, contains more iron and calcium than kale, beet, greens, spinach, chard or collards, also contains the amino acid lysine (If you are prone to getting cold sores then you are deficient in LYSINE!), which is missing in wheat, barley and corn. Grain and leaf amaranths are both wind and insect pollinated. Minimum isolation between leaf varieties is 500 ft and 2 miles between grain varieties. Grow 16 plants minimum, preferably 32 or ideally 64 to keep genetic strength. Ideally suited to Bio intensive mini farming where harvests of 7kg/10 sq. metres can be achieved. Drought tolerant, crop that suits low fertility soils, and the stalks remaining after the grain is harvested are super high in carbon so is a great soil building crop.

Growing tips: To successfully grow a heavy crop of seed the seed must be sown at the same time in Spring as you’d put in your first corn and curcurbits (i.e. when the soil reaches 15°C) This will ensure that the plants grow to their full size before going to seed and it will also mean that you might get away with being able to harvest the mature seed before the birds find it. If the birds do find it, it is easy enough to cover with netting, as long as you are growing it the Bio intensive way, in raised beds.

Harvesting: Cut the dry (as dry as possible) seed heads from the stalks and put in a dry place to mature and finish drying. Ours go into the green house. If there are only a few seed heads, rub them between your hands to free the seeds. If there are many seed heads, place a sheet onto a flat area, and stomp, on the seed heads, where necessary, rubbing your feet or boots on the heads to extract the seed. Once the seeds are free, separate out the chaff by winnowing (tipping the seeds from one container to another, from a height, in a light wind).

Cooking: Cleaned seeds can be cooked whole as a hot cereal or ground finely in a mill or blender and added to your favourite recipe. Replace the amount of flour called for with one part amaranth flour to three or four parts whole flour.

Popping:

Heat an ungreased steel wok or cast iron skillet over medium heat. Pour in 2 tablespoons of amaranth seeds, and keep them moving with a brush or spoon to prevent burning. As oon as the popping stops, empty the pan. If seeds don’t pop well, sprinkle them lightly with water and try again later when they’ve had time to absorb the moisture. If the seeds burn before popping, it probably means the work isn’t hot enough. They should begin popping about 3 seconds after touching the wok. These popped grains make an excellent breakfast cereal that we love. We have popped amaranth, fresh fruit and yoghurt every morning. The popped grain is also great as a crumble topping, a fish or potato pie topping and as part of a piecrust with whole meal flour.

As we collect these seeds and we listen, we become aware of the part that the ancestors play in getting them to us. Then we have to be aware that we are the ancestors of the next stage. .... What we’re setting up right now is our role as ancestors for our children and those children five hundred years on down the line for whom we will be these distant little voices in the seeds.

Seed Saving Information

Grain amaranths and leaf amaranths are both mainly wind pollinated, insect pollination is possible. For commercial production of large amounts of grain, 5kms distance may be necessary for seed purity but in a home garden situation be sure to plant your amaranth in beds with several rows close together in blocks to encourage cross pollination between plants , to keep the seed strong and plant different cultivars 10 meters apart with tall crops in between. I’ve never seen any crossing in my garden over ten years of growing two varieties each year. To achieve a heavy crop of seed the plants must go in at the same time as your main crop corn. Seed ripens from the bottom of the stem up. IT’s easy to tell when to harvest the heads, they change colour from bright and showy to dull. We cover our beds to protect from bird damage. After harvest lay in plastic house to fully dry in our climate, before threshing and winnowing. We plant ours in beds at 30cm diagonal spacings which achieves 9 plants per square metre.

Golden Giant

(Amaranthus hypochondriacus) OS (10 years in New Zealand)

Can easily reach 2+ meters. The plant has golden stems and leaves with beautiful golden flower heads. Good carbon crop. Grain variety. Pops well.

Manna de Montana (Amaranthus cruentus) OS (10 years in New Zealand)

(200cm) Another grain variety specially selected for its popping ability. Enormous plants reaching 2+ meters with heavy heads of golden grain. Easily grown. Leaves are green. These golden seeds are larger than Pygmy Torch and are very fluffy when popped. Excellent carbon/compost crop too.

Pygmy Torch

(Amaranthus cruetus) OS

(100cm)

A grain variety. Stunning plant with deep burgundy leaves and large black jewel like  burgundy seed heads. When popped they are black and white and very crunchy. This is a very ornamental variety.