Plant Portrait: Good King Henry

Tycho shows and talks about the great perennial vegetable, Good King Henry (Chenopodium bonus-henricus), harvests and processes seeds for grain.

[@HeyYouSA]

Very useful video, thanks

[@MsAusarian]

I love this video. I learned more than I searched for.

[@wendyspeck9030]

Thank you! So helpful!!

[@kellymae2421]

Excellent Plant Portrait. So much information. Thanks for sharing 👍

[@annaaust8445]

That is so nice that you did it from harvesting, processing it and cooking it! thanks i have a good idea of what to expect to do :)

[@romandogbird]

The two of you are such a fantastic duo - thank you for sharing your beautiful place and knowledge

[@jill7972]

Fabulous video! Wonderful to learn how to process the seeds. Thanks so much!

[@dirkphilly]

Thanks. Subscribed.

[@growingreens34]

thank you for the reminder, I meant to plant this awhile ago!!

[@thecookreporting]

Incredible. thanks

[@nateanderson5289]

Excellent video! Thanks so much for showing the whole process. I’m just starting some Good King Henry seeds this year, thinking we would eat it as a green. I didn’t realize they were useable as a grain as well!

[@Heikover]

Love that hand blender!

[@Kiki-ni3fe]

very cool

[@rrbb36]

Wonderful... so happy to discover this video. I recently put some GKH seed into the fridge to stratify for 5 days on a wet paper towel and now after about a week or so at room temp, I see quite a number of them have germinated. Yay! I’m in hardiness zone 6B, so I think I’ll transfer the germinated seed to some pots to more easily protect the young plants over the cold/snowy months, then transplant into their permanent home in the garden once they’ve toughened up a good bit. I’m so pleased to be able to add a highly nutritious perennial to the homestead garden. As far as the “wasted” greens, chaff and seeds.... I’m sure my chickens will be very happy to do their bit.🐓 We might just have to get one of those hand-crank blenders, too! Thanks for publishing such a great video! [New sub].

[@clausfrisk6130]

i have experienced that they will grow fine left to their own devices during a winter with long frost as long as the roots have been given an good layer of mulch. we used kelp since we were very close to the beach, but i imagine that straw or any other isolating mulch will do the trick.

[@enchantedherbshop]

Thanks for the thorough processing info.

[@paulosullivan3472]

Okay I have to ask where do you get the amazing hand cranked food processor?

[@tjcihlar1]

love the video, love the quinoa alternative use.... it does take a little work.

[@manasikashyap]

Subscribed! Thank you!

[@tinnerste2507]

Thank you for the film. Do you find this plant growing wild or is this a garden cultivar of a different wild plant? If it is wild, is it a forest or a meadow plant?

[@myrrhispermakulturhaven1835]

We grow it in our garden. You can buy seeds.

[@tinnerste2507]

Wow ! I can't believe you answered after so many years lol thank you. I found seeds and now have a bed of about 15 plants. It is actually A native of my region (Harz Mountains) but I've never seen any out hiking

[@dancingcedar]

Thank you. Very informative. Very helpful co-ordination of images with what you are saying, so we can see what you mean. What sort of irrigation does Good King Henry like/need? I love the simplicity of your home. I do hope you are using your grey water!

[@myrrhispermakulturhaven1835]

Great to hear. We dont have to irrigate here, as its a taprooted perennial, but if you have periods of drought longer than a month it probably needs extra water.

[@aaymathebest4705]

@@myrrhispermakulturhaven1835please also tell in the video from which country are you presenting this video ....and also from where we can get these seeds also tell the seeds or plants names....

[@1Lightdancer]

I love this little tutorial - I love my Good King Henry, which is likely a decade old! I'm in W. Oregon, USA, and don't need to water mine, either! I sprinkled some seed in a nearby raised bed, and have a seedlng growing there! The soil under my established plant is pretty hard clay, so I've not seen seedlings there.

[@laatlammetjie]

@@aaymathebest4705 Look for Blitum bonus-henricus (syn. Chenopodium bonus-henricus), also called Good-King-Henry

[@lydialaub5475]

@@aaymathebest4705 He's in Denmark. I'm in the USA, fedco seeds sells good king Henry here, but not sure for other countries. I know this is a super old comment but hope this helps someone!

[@BrandonInchbold-Stevens]

Just to repeat a previous comment. Where can you find a hand cranked blender? Never seen that before.

[@douglasanderson7301]

Any other methods for cleaning the seeds? Or a source on the hand crank blender?

[@debbiecurtis4021]

Could you let the seeds soak overnight to loosen chaff and leech out saponins? Why not save the saponins water for washing dark clothes?

[@ravensnow2931]

Would it be possible to do all the cleaning and processing for the whole batch, and then dry and store the seeds? Or does that negatively affect seed storage?

[@myrrhispermakulturhaven1835]

Good question! I imagine that would work, but we havent tried ourselves. Commercial quinoa is pre-cleaned then sold dry, so I imagine it would work the same for good king henry. Try it out!!

[@ravensnow2931]

@@myrrhispermakulturhaven1835 Thanks! I hope to grow some Good King Henry soon. Maybe next year, if I can make my backyard suitable for planting.

[@malcdawson21]

What kind of hand blender is that?

[@tankscape]

It's a GSI Outdoors Vortex Blender (went looking for it on google as well).

[@laatlammetjie]

Search for "Hand Crank Blender". One is made by Lehmans, and another (better one) is GSI Outdoors Vortex Blender

[@catejordan7244]

Is it a good source of protein? Any tips on starting plants from seed?

[@myrrhispermakulturhaven1835]

Seed can be sown in spring. We sow here in march and put the trays in the greenhouse and get great germination.

[@aaymathebest4705]

@@myrrhispermakulturhaven1835 from which country ?tell the season in which season we can grow and also tell about the plant ,seeds name as well....

[@clausfrisk6130]

the protein level is about the same as in quinoa. quinoa is 16% and GKH is 15% uncooked. when cooked it falls to about 4,4% because of higher water levels.

[@1Lightdancer]

Love this plant profile of one of my favorite perennials. I have a small patch in Oregon, zone 8b, and my plants still have leaves in December, as do my nettles, kale and chard. I've harvested leaves in snow, and it's one of my earliest greens. It does fine with no summer water, or just a bit in the hottest weather. I've cooked some green seed beads along with greens like I might with the wild Lambs quarters. Chenopodium bonus-henricus The seed is similar size to amaranth, I've mixed it with the larger quinoa to cook (~ 15 minutes) I moved last summer, and brought along a few small plants - I'm reminded I want to start more so I can harvest more seed and greens.

[@AteneFeeElverpil]

Hvor finder man sådan en håndblender som du bruger til at rense frøene?

[@myrrhispermakulturhaven1835]

Vi har købt i USA. Ved ikke om de findes i Europa?