The backyard garden is experiencing a renaissance. Everyone from U.S. First Lady Michelle Obama, who planted the first vegetable patch at the White House since Eleanor Roosevelt’s victory garden during World War II, to high rise-dwelling families tending allotments with their neighbours, is digging in. There’s never been a better time to become a microfarmer.
Once considered a weed, amaranth should be granted superfood status. A good source of protein, fibre and minerals, this grain, originally from South America, is something we all should be eating more of. Similar in taste to other salad greens, amaranth is delicious in a salad or sautéed for a healthy side dish. The seeds can be used in cereal, milled into flour and can even be popped! And it adds a beautiful hue to any garden. This warm-season crop is best planted in late May or early June in full sun. (The plant will be harvestable at the end of the summer.) Amaranth can also be found in most Asian grocery stores. It may be labelled baby amaranth, red spinach, Chinese spinach, een choy, yin choi, or yin tsoi. It is usually sold in big bunches alongside other greens and can be more than a foot in length. Once you see its tell-tale colour — green leaves kissed with red-purple dappled centres — you will know it is amaranth.
Photograph by Dave and Charlotte at the Evergreen Brickworks