Amaranth, Alegria

Quick facts

• *Diverse Population ALERT*  Grow this population as is or use for your at home plant breeding project.  It's crop adaptation made simple- select those plants that grow best for you, save seeds, plant them next year and repeat.
• *Saving Kitchen Garden Traditions ALERT* This is a culturally significant variety traditionally grown for a specific culinary purpose.
• Arid adapted
• Make into candy, granola, porridge, or crackers
• Easy to grow

  
  

Amaranthus sp.

A diverse population with plants that are 4-5 feet tall and produce massive seed heads.  Red, pink, and white seed heads produce tan seeds.  These seeds are named for the Mexican confection made with amaranth- Alegrias.  This variety has been traditionally used for that purpose in Mexico.  Alegrias (meaning "joy") is made with amaranth and honey and resembles a granola bar.  Read about Alegrias and the importance of amaranth in Mexico here!

You can also cook these like you would any other amaranth- into a porridge, or our personal favorite- crackers!  Check out this great recipe for amaranth crackers from IndigiKitchen.  We love exploring additions to these like rosemary, honey, nutmeg... The possibilities are endless.  However you cook it, amaranth is a gluten-free super grain that is high in all the good stuff- iron, magnesium, phosphorus, calcium fiber, antioxidants, vitamins A, C, K, B6, folate and more!

This variety was collected by Native Seed Search in 1979 in Mexico and is arid/desert adapted.  We got it from the Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook, who got it from The Peaceable Kingdom School- a biodynamic garden school in Brazos, Texas that had been growing the variety since 1990 when it obtained seeds from Native Seed Search.  This variety is diverse enough to start a simple, at-home breeding project with.  Simply grow out the plants and select those that grow best in your garden for planting next year.

More about amaranth:

Amaranth is a unique and ancient grain native to the Americas.  It was a staple food of the Aztecs, Inca, and Mayan and was first cultivated in 8,000 BC.  It is still of huge importance in Central America, where it thrives not only as a resilient, low impact staple food but as spiritual symbol of cultural thriving.

We have followed the work of the non-profit Garden's Edge ever since being introduced to their work at the Santa Rosa Heirloom Festival in 2014.  Working in Guatemala, Garden's Edge "supports sustainable agriculture, micro-enterprise, and education in rural communities in order to revitalize cultural knowledge and improve economic well-being."  Central to their work is amaranth, as they assist indigenous communities in preserving local amaranth varieties that are vulnerable due to colonization and civil war.  Please learn more about their work with indigenous communities and amaranth, and find traditional recipes, HERE.

We grow amaranth because it simply thrives in our hot, dry, summers and we want to promote it as a low-impact, high nutrition plant for a changing world.  The grain separates quite easily from the plant when ripe, and can easily be winnowed in a light wind. 

Eat the tender young leaves, pop the grains, or make a nutrient dense porridge.  The possibilities are really endless.  Find Josselin Chun's recipe for Amaranth Torta here!  Amaranth is resilient and easy to grow, and the 2 varieties we grow mature well in our short season climate.  It's tall and vigorous and easily outcompetes weeds- so its great for organic gardens.  

For more information, we LOVED this article from Edible New Mexico about amaranth.

How to grow it: