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The naming of Callaloo and Amaranth
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I was given eight different amaranth strains to try for comparison this year. They’d all been grown in the London area, mostly on allotments. Two or three were apparently the same, two of the reds and two of the greens. One that I’ve grown myself, as Polish amaranth, from the A4A seed exchange about three years ago was unique in that selection in that it was shorter, finer and more intensely red. One of the greens had a thicker and more branching habit. Otherwise there was a similar growth habit in the other six except that one produced flowers noticeably earlier than the others.
Apart from enjoying the rather lovely flowers, I’m not sure what to do with them now. I love the intense red of the Polish amaranth (in the foreground of the first picture but out of shot in the second) but have enough seeds to grow that again. I guess I could see what mix I might get from allowing free pollination amongst the others and saving the seed.
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Thanks for the saag clue.
I have had the impression that amaranth seed is extracted from different strains or species of amaranth.Certainly I haven’t found it easy to get much seed from the amaranth I’ve grown.
Have you,Clumsy, or anyone, had success with harvesting cooking quantities of amaranth seed from your own amaranth?
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I did wonder.
I grew fenugreek in the polytunnel several years ago and oh my what a delicious aroma the plants had, worth growing just for that, plus they were growing next to coriander, the combination was just lovely. Sadly I don't much enjoy fenugreek in cooked dishes or at least I haven't learned how to add it in and get the best flavour combinations out.
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If you google saag recipes you'll get the idea. The base of the recipe like spices is the same but you can use any green leave's,kale,spinach,swish chard,callaloo/amaranth,mustard,rocket or mix the leaves together if you don't have enough of one type.. Plus you can add chickpeas or potatoes to the recipe. Never tried it when it goes to seed but have used the seeds in biriyani rice 80% rice 20% amaranth seeds. In china they mix the rice and amaranth also.
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Would drying the stems and leaves work too?
Perhaps to add in powder form?
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Boiling the leaves and stems for freezing to be used in winter. This way it used less space in freezer.1 Photo
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I'll be thinking of growing these next year the blood test shows for my mum she has developed microcytic anaemia plus albuminura. I've asked the plotholder if I could have loads so I could freeze them for winter plus use some fresh.
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