This story about the worldwide uses of the Amaranth plant came across my Google news feed the other day: “It Could Feed The World” (this is an excellent read if you are interested in indigenous/sustainable foods) and I thought about how wild amaranth feeds our family and our animals here on our microfarm.
A branch of lambsquarters. The shape of the leaf is why we usually call it ‘goosefoot’ here on the farm. Pretty much insect free, and easy to rinse if left on the branch, then pick the leaves for use. Give the woody branches to the rabbits.
While the amaranth that grows wild here in Ohio is not as pretty as the the lead photo in the Guardian article, I still find our local types to be attractive, useful, and tasty plants.
My favorite wild amaranth is locally known as Lambsquarters (Chenopodium album) Also common here is Redroot Pigweed (Amaranthus retroflexus). Farmers consider both to be noxious weeds and they spray for them. I tend to let ten or twelve plants grow where ever they want in my garden because they are so good to eat.
Lambsquarters have many names: Bacon Weed, Fat Hen, Frost-blite, Goosefoot, Lambsquarters, Pigweed, White Goosefoot. The leaves are good to eat raw or cooked, and they are mild and fairly tasteless, like spinach. Most insects leave them alone, though now and then they get spider mites.
The alternate names hint at lambsquarters appearance (it has a frosty white, powdery look), the leaf shape (goosefoot) and it’s past uses. I can attest to how good this plant tastes when the leaves are mixed in with hot crumbly bacon! And as a nutritious animal feed, our hens would love to get fat on this plant- though usually we keep most of it for our own use.
To use lambsquarters, I pick the leaves as I need them for greens all summer long. Unlike lettuces and spinach, the leaves are good even in the heat of the summer. As I pick from it, the plant just keeps putting out branches and leaves and gets bigger and better all summer long. I have several plants that are now, in August, over 7 feet tall. I just break off as many branches as I need for a meal. I find the leaves easier to rinse while on the branch, and then I take the leaves off to use them and save the branches for the rabbits. I don’t remove the small stem that holds the leave to the branch because they are tender and not stringy unless the leaves are quite large.
I allow the lambsquarter plants that appear in the greens beds to grow as high as they want. The light shade keeps the lettuces and spinach from bolting too early, and it is convenient to pick all the greens I need for a salad in one place.
Small red-root amaranth plant, ready to wash and cook whole.
Later in the season, when the tops of the lambsquarters go to seed, I will pick the small seed heads and the top stems and lightly saute them like I would broccolini, with a little butter, garlic, and salt. Before the first frost kills the plants, I pick all the leaves I can, and dry them, along with other wild greens. I crumble these green flakes into many foods to add nutrition during the winter months.
The other amaranth I use is Redroot pigweed, also called red-root amaranth or tumbleweed. In the spring, this is one of the first greens up, and it is easy to pull whole little plants, rinse them and use them whole in stir fry or sauteed in omelettes. If I’m cooking mixed greens, I’ll throw some redroot in with collards and kale and it is sturdy and tasty that way. Red-rooted amaranth is best when little, and it goes to seed quickly, so once the weather gets hot, I start pulling it up. The leaves get dried and put into the dry greens mix, and the rest fed to the animals. The rabbits love it, and the chickens like it too, especially the seed heads.
I have read that the seeds of both our local amaranths are good as pseudo-cereals, since they are in the quinoa family, but I’ve not tried them.
I feel good about eating these wild amaranths that grow where they want to in my garden. In a very small way perhaps it connects me to others around the world who are also gratefully consuming this remarkable plant.
Here are some links you might enjoy:
Nutrition of raw lambsquarters: www.nutritionvalue.org/…
A little history and some recipes: honest-food.net/…
A lambsquarters gratin recipe that is soo good: www.epicurious.com/...
