Herbal Spotlight: Amaranth, How To Harvest & Use It

​One of the most nutrient-dense foods available may just be growing in your flower bed! More than just a pretty face, Amaranth’s flowers & leaves are edible-- but most importantly, her seeds can be eaten like quinoa or couscous, & are PACKED with protein, vitamins, minerals, & dietary fiber. Although not a grass  like the true grains, amaranth seed is

 often considered a grain. Both the seeds & leaves are edible, tasty & highly nutritious-- indeed, amaranth contains more protein than many grains!

Ours were over 8' tall this year.

Amaranth plants require a solid 5 hours of sun to grow & can reach over 8’ tall depending on the variety. My favorite to grow is Love Lies Bleeding; her long, trailing flowers are a favorite of mine-- & tasty too!  Harvesting the seeds from your plants is time consuming, but rewarding. The leaves are effortless to eat, & the flowers make gorgeous additions to salads or cocktail garnishes.​

The leaves of amaranth are delicious raw as additions to salads, which is really useful as the plants are sun/heat tolerant. Most salad greens such as spinach & lettuce bolt easily in heat, but not amaranth, which will produce continuously for you during the heat of Summer. The leaves can also be cooked up similarly to Malabar spinach. They are delicious & an excellent source of nutrition.

While bags of dried & cleaned amaranth are available in health food stores & online [Bob’s Red Mill is very good], there is something very satisfying about harvesting it from your own plants yourself, although plan some time for it! It is definitely not a quick process. The seeds or grains can be popped like corn or cooked up like porridge or rice. Varieties that produce white or golden seeds are the tastiest--while the black seed producers are bitter.

You can check to see if your amaranth grain is ready to harvest by running your hands down the flowers-- if seeds fall from them easily, it is time! You may also notice tiny birds happily visiting your plants as well! This is usually about 3 months after planting, mid-to-end of Summer. There are a couple different methods of collecting the grain--Some people cut the flowers & hang them to dry-- am not a fan of this method & find it doesn’t work too well for me [but to each his own.] Some bring bowls out to the plants for 4 or 5 days in a row, running their hands down each flower & collecting what drops while allowing the plants to continue to grow & produce. I am going to focus on the cut & harvest method, which involves cutting all the flowers you plan to harvest, letting them dry for a day, then harvesting straight off the stems.

First, I collect my flowers, cutting all I plan to clean & collect from in one big go. I then spread them all out on newspaper in the sun & leave them there for a couple of hours, allowing any hitchhiking bugs to vacate. Depending on how dry they are, I will then either leave them on the paper inside overnight & clean the next day, or begin cleaning them right away. ​

This is the method that works best for me: Place a colander with medium-to-small holes inside a deep bowl. Some people use a fine gauge drying screen, but I like my colander. Begin striping each flower, moving your hand from top to tip, & letting the fluff & seeds fall into the colander. Rub it all along the bottom of the colander & between your fingers, separating the chaff from the seeds-- the seed will fall through the holes with some smaller chaff. The larger leftovers remain in the colander & you can toss them into your compost once they have given up all their seeds, moving from flower to flower. 

It is a slow process, but there is something  comforting about it-- sit & chat with a friend [even better if you can get them to help LOL] or pop on an audio book. ​​

Once you have separated it this way, you need to winnow the seeds to remove most of the remaining small chaff. This can be done by pouring the seeds onto a plate or cookie sheet & lightly blowing on them-- do this outside as it can be quite messy! ​

 Do NOT attempt to get every seed or remove every bit of chaff & flower material. Perfection is your enemy in this task & seeking it will only cause frustration! Personally, I don’t mind bits of the flower parts in my grain.
Once you have harvested your seeds, they can be eaten right away or stored as you would any other grain for up to 6 months.

That is a wrap for this post!  Give eating your amaranth a try if you are growing some; it is delicious & you can’t beat the nutritional value! If you aren’t growing it, consider planting some next year! Even if you don’t make use of it, the birds & animals will enjoy it. Until next time-- #StopAndEatTheFlowers