Mini aramanth harvest
I did not plant any of these this year, I promise! This is what happens when the windy Inland Northwest plants seeds for you. We had just a handful of red amaranth plants last year, but boy, they self-seeded with a vengeance! It’s not surprising, because once those fluffy seed heads dry out, literally milions of tiny seeds are released.
My “accidental” row of red amaranth. Yes, I probably should have nipped that in the bud as the red invaders appeared, but I ended up kind of liking it. Next year I will be a little more ruthless.
This year I am running a few experiments to see if I can (possibly) get ahead of it by harvesting BEFORE they go dry and start dropping seeds. None of the plants are dry and ready to drop seed, meaning I can run my hand over/through the flower heads and no seeds drop. So today’s harvest included:
A nice bouquet for the counter. This will dry in place after a few weeks, so I expect there will come a time when I need to move the dried bouquet to a high shelf where it wont get bumped, or I will have those red seeds everywhere.
A nice sprig for the chickens. They were not impressed with the fresh stalk I gave them, but then again they were competing with all of the byproducts of my morning juice party. I know they will go crazy when I give them dried stalks a little later. The goats tore into them pretty heartily.
A little lunch for me. Yes, this plant is fully edible. I cooked up the lower leaves and stems (and even a few tiny flower heads) I snipped off the bouquet, cooked them up with some garlic, and finished them off with a squeeze of lemon and a little salt, pepper, and Parmesan cheese. For a spinach lover like me, this was pretty great.
I will also be pulling some a little later for some of my natural dye experiments, to see what kind of colors I can produce out of this beautiful dramatic red plant. I will save one plant’s worth of seeds (just for the experience, based on this year I doubt I will ever need to use them), and the rest that don’t get used in a bouquet will be chicken treats galore.
I know it might not scream “lunch” now……
… wait for it …
… Pretty nice little lunch snack! Reminds me of when I used to grow rainbow chard. I might sneak some in one of my future rice bowls in lieu of red cabbage to add a little color. Use what you have!
