Amaranth

[silverphnx2579]

What the heck do I do with this stuff? I bought it from Vitamin Cottage, and don't know how to cook it. I tried boiling it, but it tastes like a dirty gummy bear.

Melissa

[Shamrock1121]

What the heck do I do with this stuff? *I bought it from Vitamin Cottage, and don't know how to cook it. *I tried boiling it, but it tastes like a dirty gummy bear.

Melissa

The quick & easy use is to add it (whole) to quick breads like you would poppy seeds. *They look like golden poppy seeds in the baked goods and add a little bit of crunch. *

Toss some in with other cooked cereals. *You'll probably like it better mixed with other grains (like 5, 7, or 11-grain cereal), or added to oatmeal or cream of wheat/rice. *It adds a lot of nutrition and protein.

I also mill it into flour with my seed mill and will add it as a portion of the wheat flour to "beef-up" the nutrition of things like crackers, or other baked goods. *You can't mill it in most other grain mills because it's so small.

I grew it this past summer and it's an interesting plant, to say the least. *I sowed about 20 seeds from the amaranth I got from the health food store, and got about 15 giant plants that were at least 10-foot tall. *Beautiful red/magenta foilage and large plooms on the top. *How something so tiny can produce such a large plant.... :o *You harvest after the first hard freeze. *We ate the leaves as an addition to the greens in salads, picked from the young plants.

-Karen

*

[shadowwalker]

If you really,really want a challenge. Try making it into popcorn. You put it in a pan and on the stove top. Pop it like you do oldtimey popcorn. Instead of using oil or butter spray pam or something like it into the pan. It does pop.
Also if you take a very few seeds it makes a awsome yard or garden plant. One strong word of caution though. DONT let it go to seed. You'll have hundreds of small plants come back for years.....
Makes good chicken food.