Sooner or Later…

Originally this was to be a post on my garden plans but the day is getting away from me so instead–amaranth.

Amaranth one garden plant that I have been wanting to try for years but with this-that-and-the-other never got around to even dog-earing the catalog page.  This is the year that amaranth is the experimental plant.

Why bother with growing a ‘weed’ plant? This article is an easy to read summary of years of reading on this plant.  Some highlights:

Amaranth enjoys a protein content of a remarkable 16 percent and is two to three times higher in lysine than most other grains. In fact, this important amino acid is low in most other grains and is perennially deficient in the diets of the rural poor in countries such as Guatemala. Amaranth is also 4 to 8 times higher in calcium and 3 to 5 times higher in iron—both critical elements for nutrition—than other common grains such as corn, wheat, and rice. In fact, when rated by nutritionists for general nutritional quality, amaranth scores significantly higher than other common foods such as milk, soy, wheat and corn. Amaranth’s digestibility score is an impressive 90 percent, much higher than problematic foods such as soy, milk and wheat.

And:

Amaranth seeds contain 5 percent to 9 percent high-quality oil, again, much higher than the common grains. Found in the amaranth oil are tocotrienols—a relatively rare and very beneficial form of vitamin E—and squalene, another rare compound reported to have anti-cancer properties.

Combine these nutritional pluses with the fact that amaranth is a hardy, drought-resistant plant, and you have a crop with great potential for incorporation into developing (as well as developed) country diets.

Amaranth is one of the few dicotyledonous plants that has what is known as the C4 metabolism, a much more efficient form of photosynthesis than the more-common C3 and linked to proficient production and drought resistance. Most of the world’s C4 crops—corn, sorghum, sugar cane, millet—are from the grass family.

Lastly, for growing:

It was in one of these eroded, gravel-strewn parcels of cropland where the corn had completely failed that we found a thriving crop of amaranth. Though the number of amaranth plants that had been cultivated was small, the health of the crop—with its robust, red inflorescences—was impressive. Amaranth’s reputation for drought resistance, while not well documented (though some data exists) seems to be well-founded.

Pretty impressive isn’t it?  But there is more than just nutrients and growing ability.  Amaranth can be used in a variety of ways.  The leaves/thinnings can be used as a salad green or cooked as a potherb (not around here).  The seeds can be ground into gluten free flour, cooked as a hot cereal, or popped like popcorn. (The popped grains have a variety of uses too.)

Will it grow here?  Well, its wild cousin pigweed grows exceptionally well in my garden so the more civilized amaranth should have half a chance.  This is a picture of pigweed–is it growing in your garden already?

More information and some recipes can be found at Leslie Beck (a nutritionist from Canada) and at Walton Feed a self reliance resource.

Some of the varieties I am considering are at Native Seeds and at Seeds of Change. In past catalogs the varieties have had protein content listed, I don’t know why it isn’t on the websites.

An interesting article that contains other plants we are considering for our garden is in this article from the Jackie Clay archive at Backwoods Home.

Baby is fussing so more garden notes later.