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Amaranth
(Amaranthus retroflexus)
Redroot, Wild Beet, Redroot Pigweed
(Guess the color of the root!)
amara = bitter
This is not a native plant.
This plant is a world traveler!
Brought to the New World by the Conquistadors, native peoples quickly realized this was a great source of food. It became well established in South America and finally moved up here to North America.
Gathered when very young the new leaves are liked by many people, while others think them bland. You can cure that by dumping the boiled (20 minutes) greens into a hot frying pan seasoned with oil and onion or fresh picked scallion. Quickly toss around and serve.
Ethnobotanists (scientists who study how plants are used by people throughout the world and history) think this plant's seeds were gathered by Native American tribes in the Southwest to be ground into flour.
From the English website, Plants For A Future - Database, (note spelling of "flavor") comes the following:
Young leaves used raw or cooked as a spinach. A mild flavour, it is often mixed with stronger flavoured leaves. Very rich iniron, it is also a good source of vitamins A and C .
Seed used raw or cooked. Ground into a powder and used as a cereal substitute, it can also be sprouted and added to salads. The seed is very small but easy to harvest and very nutritious. The flavour is greatly improved by roasting the seed before grinding it. It is often added to maize meal. The seed can be cooked whole, and becomes very gelatinous like this, but it is rather difficult to crush all of the small seeds in the mouth and thus some of the seed will pass right through the digestive system without being assimilated.
No members of this genus are known to be poisonous, but when grown on nitrogen-rich soils they are known to concentratenitrates in the leaves. This is especially noticeable on land where chemical fertilizers are used. Nitrates are implicated in stomach cancers, blue babies and some other health problems. It is inadvisable, therefore, to eat this plant if it is grown inorganically.
Birds have profited by the spread of this plant, too. It is an important, high quality seed source for them.
Study Pointers:
- Find some recipes for seeds and grains that are unusual (to you).
- Try a web search for amaranth seeds or flour. (A search for just"amaranth" does not work as there is a HUGE number of web pages from an international club with that name.
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