A Little About Growing Amaranth - And How To Save The Seeds

[@duckchugger]

Haven't gotten around to growing this just yet, but knowing I can pop it like popcorn might be just the thing to motivate me...

[@MidwestGardener]

Yeah, it's worth a try. It's pretty easy to grow. It pretty much grows like a weed. Looks like of like a weed too.

[@RiazUddin-sk3uw]

The young leaves and stalks are very tasty. Didn’t know you can eat the seeds. Would love to see how the pop! Separating the seeds looked like quite “fun” activity, should be good for one’s lungs. Enjoy the weekend, mate. Cheers!

[@rob6850]

The seeds actually contain complete protein, as quinoa does. If you grow both, you can have plant-based complete proteins year-round.

[@MidwestGardener]

Thanks! It's best to use wind or a fan to separate the seeds from the chaff, but I just had a few, so I did it the quick way. I really need to make time for exploring the use of it in cooking next year. Easier said than done though. Have a great weekend!

[@shirleyk623]

Amaranth is a really pretty plant. I usually give it to my friends that have chickens. The worms seem to really like the leaves also. The lizzard's around here seem to take care of the worms. Thanks for sharing. Take care and have a wonderful weekend.

[@MidwestGardener]

Thanks, it's a very versatile plant. I agree that it is pretty. I bet the chickens love it. I really wish we had a bunch of lizards here to help with the insects. That would be fun to watch too. Have a great weekend!

[@davidisaacs6699]

Jamaicans use a similar variety of this for a spinach like dish called callaloo made with sautéing onions, garlic, bell pepper (and or Scotch bonnets/ habaneros) with salt and black pepper. It's absolutely delicious. You can also add a bit of salted cod for flavoring.

[@MidwestGardener]

Interesting. Sounds good to me. Thanks for the idea.

[@fearfullywonderfullife]

Another awesome seed harvesting video! ❤

[@MidwestGardener]

Thanks for watching! I'm glad you enjoyed the video!

[@rob6850]

Mine grew 7-8 feet tall over a Houston summer. Really fun stuff to grow!

[@MidwestGardener]

Nice! I bet that was impressive to look at. It is kind of fun to grow.

[@davidpruitt3982]

I will be growing this next year. Thanks for shareing and have a blessed weekend.

[@MidwestGardener]

You're welcome! Hope you enjoy growing it. Hope you have a blessed weekend also!

[@Swarmstead]

Popping amaranth seeds is fun, especially for kids.

[@MidwestGardener]

Sounds like it would be. I'm looking forward to trying it!

[@Swarmstead]

@@MidwestGardener it makes the tiniest "popcorn" ever.

[@sued.530]

Good Morning Jim - Wow had no idea about the many uses of Amaranth. I imagine it would take quite a few plants to have enough seed for making flour but being able to use the leaves in salads/stir fry would be worth it. Will check it out once I get a bigger garden area but you could probably just grow it to feed the birds. Thanks for sharing and have a great weekend...

[@MidwestGardener]

Good afternoon Sue. Thanks! It's pretty easy to grow, so it would work for the birds. They don't seem to like it as well as sunflowers, but I have seen them eating the seeds. I've thought about trying to find a place where it might grow wild. Not sure if that is a good idea or not though. Have a great weekend!

[@davidniemi6553]

I have used amaranth seeds as part of the "crunchies" mixture for my well-established whole-grain bread recipe (along with millet, quinoa, and steel-cut oats. Whole wheat or spelt flour is the main ingredient, but "crunchies" are a nice extra thing to add). I have also tried growing amaranth directly, but not in enough quantity to eat its leaves. I also grow as its cousins huauzontle (a sister to quinoa), and its other sister Lamb's Quarters which grows as a weed throughout the northern hemisphere. I normally eat Lamb's Quarters leaves fresh during the spring for a nice salad-ish snack and in order to keep it from taking over; if I get a lot at once I cook its leaves like its other cousin, spinach. I think Huauzontle (which is native just to North America) has a slightly nicer taste, and its seeds were optimized for taste by ancient Mexicans without needing processing (but in my climate Huauzontle is just not as eager to spread everywhere, even though it was an important stable in the eastern US area 3000+ years ago). A nice feature of amaranth and chenopod seeds (including quinoa) is that they are highly nutritious and are one of the few plant sources with a complete and balanced set of amino acids. I have also seen another closely related genus Atriplex growing here as a weed, but I don't consider its leaves to taste as good as Lamb's Quarters let alone Huauzontle.

[@MidwestGardener]

Wow, you are very knowledgeable about the different types of chenopods. I haven't even scratched the surface yet. I'm going to have to try Lamb's Quarters one of these days. I always end up pulling some of it every year. Thanks for sharing all of the additional interesting information. I'm sure other sill appreciate it too. I'm going to try to make room for Amaranth again next year. I'm going to need quite a bit of room for tomato and pepper projects though. I think next year is going to be an interesting tomato year for me.

[@davidniemi6553]

@@MidwestGardener If Lamb's Quarters appears on its own, and you get used to eating it in the spring, it stops being a problem....the leaves are more bitter in hot weather, so I do eventually start just pulling it out, but up to that point it is pretty nice raw (and doesn't get as dirty as lower-lying plants like spinach). Another useful feature of chenopods is they are a trap plant for leaf miners, so if they get afflicted I just pull them an move them far away from my garden. I can imagine in full sun the tasty early form of Lamb's Quarters quickly turns into the more bitter form; but then I live in a forest so I don;t face that problem until about July, and even then a stretch of cooler wetter weather will provide new tastier leaves. By the time the tomatoes and peppers are really rolling along, I've taken out most of the chenopods.

[@ika5663]

I think I will try and grow this as well

[@MidwestGardener]

It's worth a try, just for the experience of it.

[@RisenFromDarkness_1880]

You can Nixtamalize the seeds as well like corn. This helps make them more digestible, reduces antinutrients, unlocks more nutrients. You can then use amaranth seeds like you would corn. To make masa for tortillas, tamales etc. Search up Amaranth nixtamal a permaculture forum talks about this and how to do so.

[@MidwestGardener]

That's interesting! I'll have to look into that. Thanks for the information!

[@lettucesalad3560]

I usually wait til the seed heads start to fade to harvest the whole head. After harvesting, I put it in an open cardboard box and let it dry for a week

[@MidwestGardener]

Thanks for the tip!

[@MS-ku7tl]

Would love to see a video where you try them as popcorn!

[@MidwestGardener]

That's a great idea! I'm going to have to try that!

[@vuelee5313]

That's called "Worldly Rice" in the Hmong language. They take the leaves and boil them and eat them with rice.

[@MidwestGardener]

Interesting! I did not know that. Thanks for sharing that information.

[@jamesalanstephensmith7930]

Give the heads to the chickens!

[@MidwestGardener]

Good idea.