Agriculture and Organic Farming - Amaranth Grains | Aplus Farms
Amaranth is a flamboyant and far from mainstream crop. Its flamboyance comes from its tall, robust growth, red stems and dark leaves and its crowning glory of blood-red feathery flowers that form drooping tassels as the seeds mature.
Indeed, this plant is best known to gardeners as an ornamental but it is a dual-purpose edible offering both edible leaves and, once the flowers mature, grain. Often regarded as merely ornamental, amaranth is an ancient grain with more protein than modern wheat.
The best species to grow for grain is Amaranthus hypochondriacus, which can also be eaten as a leafy vegetable. 'Green Thumb' is a compact grain variety with green flowers while 'Pygmy Torch' has dark red flowers and bright green leaves. Both grow to around 60cm high.
'Golden' has beautiful heads of golden flowers and golden grain with green leaves. It is a tall grower that can reach 150cm in height. A. tricolor is the species usually grown for its edible leaves and can also be consumed as a microgreen sprout. There are red- and green-leaf forms, appropriately dubbed 'Red Garnet' and 'Green Garnet'.
One of the common names of ornamental amaranth is Joseph's coat due to its green, yellow and red leaves. The name is a biblical reference to Joseph's multicoloured apparel, referenced in Dolly Parton's well-known song Coat of Many Colours.
There are also single-leaf coloured forms and other ornamental forms grown for their colourful drooping flowers, including love-lies-bleeding (A. caudatus) with its hanging flower tassels in red or green and crested flowers also in many colours such as orange, red and yellow.
Farming
Edible forms of Amaranthus are grown from seed. This is an ideal crop to grow in subtropical and tropical zones as a winter or spring leaf crop. It also grows in cool and temperate zones where it is planted in spring (or after frost) for leaf harvest in spring and summer or grain harvest in late summer or autumn.
Amaranth has good heat tolerance and shouldn't bolt to seed when the weather warms.Direct sow seeds where they are to grow at a depth of 6mm. Thin to about 50cm between each plant. Crops can be grown in rows or scattered among other plants - for example, in a sunny spot in the garden or even in a container or raised vegie bed.
They need full sun and moist soil so water regularly, particularly where summers are hot and dry. Plants grow to around 100cm tall. Growing for grain is the same but space plants a little further apart - around 60cm – as these plants take up more space in the garden and are grown for longer before the grain is harvested. Allow around 95 days from sowing to flowering.
Organic Vegetable Farm
Amaranth is one of the ancient grains. These are grains that were grown and eaten at least 4000 years ago. They were harvested and later cultivated as staples before corn, modern wheat and rice became staples for much of the modern world.
While these old-style plants have always been around they only recently returned to favour and are more readily available as flour or grain. They are also included in some breads, cereals and other products.
Ancient grains are nutritious and also gaining favour as a gluten-free or wheat-free option. They are also higher in protein than modern wheat and usually grown organically. Traditionally, there are seven ancient grains but today 23 different grains and seeds are included under the banner.
There are eight that are true grains including spelt and other early forms of wheat such as farro (or emmer) and kamut along with red and black rice, corn, oats, rye, barley, millet and sorghum. Seed crops grown as grain include amaranth, quinoa, buckwheat, chia, sorghum and wild rice.
Harvesting, Storage
Pick amaranth leaves as they are needed to add to salads or cook as a spinach-like vegetable, stir-fry or add to soups. The leaves should be tender and either green or red depending on the variety grown. Harvest sprouts in four days or leave microgreens for 14 to 21 days. The grain (or for those with a technical bent, the pseudocereal) is eaten for its high fibre, calcium, iron and potassium.
It is a good source of protein and is gluten free. The harvested seeds are treated like grain but must be cooked before eating. Amaranth can be ground, cooked whole like rice or popped like corn kernels to use as a cereal or snack. Store amaranth in a dry, dark place in an airtight container.Kept well, grain amaranth will store for 12 months or longer.