One of the luxuries I have had over the last couple of years since retiring is the time to garden. We have been planning (and planning) our new home here on our fledgling homestead for a while now, and we are hoping (and praying) that our local officials will grace us with an approved building permit soon. But, between all the planning and preparing, one thing that keeps me grounded is my vegetable garden and orchard.
Our homestead is in Northern California, at 3,000 foot in elevation, and in USDA zone 8 or 9 ish, depending on what map you look at. Our growing season is fairly average, with our last frost date around April 1st through 10th.
Since my husband and I are trying to be as self-sufficient as possible, we are trying out new plants in our garden. Last year our new plants were Fava (broad) beans and Amaranth. You can read about our Fava bean adventure HERE.
Why Amaranth? Read this article about the 13 health benefits of Amaranth on the website Sunwarrior HERE. See? That’s why. 🙂
I started the Amaranth seedlings in 3 inch peat pots and they were the second plants of all my garden plants (the Favas were first) to germinate. I was so encouraged!
Once they went into the garden, they took off like wildfire. I had eight Amaranth plants, four planted on each end of my green beans. I had no idea what to expect in terms of how tall or wide they would grow, and I thought it might be a good idea to plant them with the beans in case they needed to be tied up.
I was surprised at how early I saw the flowers start to appear! I thought our honeybees would be obsessed with these plants and the amount they were flowering, but I was wrong. I never saw one honeybee visit the Amaranth. I did see a few bumblebees and some orchard mason bees, but no honeybees! Unfortunately, I also saw some yellow jackets and some bald faced hornets, but that’s another story.
The plants grew and grew and grew!
Luckily the stalks grew thick and sturdy as the plants grew tall, so they were pretty much self-supporting. I did have to stake one up after a nasty wind blew through, because it almost broke in half, but that trooper survived despite it’s near fatal accident! I was blown away 😉
Once it was harvest time, in early October before the rains and when I noticed some of the seeds starting to dislodge from the plants, I cut the heads off and set them upside down in an open paper bag. In no time at all, the seeds started to dry and fall off of the plants. But quite a few of them actually held on. I’m not sure if this is usual, or if I may have harvested too soon, but I harvested right before a week of heavy rain, so I think I made a good call regardless.
After a bit of research I found that it was easiest to use garden shears to cut the seed heads from the thick plant stalk, and then with a gloved hand, you can rub the seed heads between your hands to dislodge the seeds and the chaff. Then, to separate the seeds from the chaff, I gently blew on them… the chaff blows away in the wind and the heavier seeds stay put. Stay upwind of the chaff, however, lest you get a facefull of the chaff… it isn’t pretty.
I have heard that some people blow off the chaff with a fan and, believe me, that’s what I will do next time.
Also, don’t try rubbing the seeds off the stalk without wearing gloves. The seed heads have little tiny stickers which poke like minute thorns into your fingers. Even though I put on a pair of gloves after that first batch, my hands were sore for days!
I didn’t get a WHOLE lot of seeds. In fact, when judging my harvest with the size of the flowering seed heads, I thought I would get a lot more. But then, seeing the size of the seeds, I realize that I actually got a decent harvest, considering. I guess I will just have to grow more amaranth!
So, what did I do with the Amaranth? I found this really cool method of popping the amaranth seeds, like popcorn! It’s on this website I found here: http://www.edibleperspective.com/home/2012/7/23/popped-amaranth-cereal-puffmaranth.html
I also added the amaranth to some muffins by just adding it into the batter. The amaranth added quite a crunch to the muffins… still not sure I like that. Perhaps I should pre-soften the grains in water first, before adding to the muffin batter, or maybe I should use the popped amaranth. I also found a protein bar recipe I would like to try once I have more amaranth, and I will be doing a lot more research for bread recipes using amaranth.
Will I grow amaranth again? You Betcha!
It was easy to grow, I love the popped amaranth, and the plant itself is quite beautiful. In fact, this could easily be a statement piece in a flower garden and most people wouldn’t be aware that it is actually a food crop. You should try it!
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