August garden in full swing

This is amaranth - red Hopi.  It is being used by many Canadian gardeners as a decorative annual in flower beds these days.  You might not realize that the leaves are also edible and can be steamed or used as a salad green.  Amaranth is from South America and the plant matures with a gorgeous red plume which contains very small edible seeds.  The seeds provide complete protein which is rare in the plant world - like soy and quinoa.  Learn more about this amazing plant at a previous post of mine.

The amaranth is related to the Jamaican callaloo show below.  My friends bought these seeds for me from a feed and farm store last spring when we were travelling in Jamaica.  You eat calloloo like spinach.  Great in omelettes too.  Little Jamaican carrots growing around it... might not get too big before harvest but will be delicious none the less.

A bountiful harvest or organic red potatoes starting late June this year.  They were planted early in April.  Envy of the Irish!  When I travelled in Jamaica this spring I noticed they called white potatoes "Irish."

Smaller tomatoes are ripe and have been a great addition to salads and sandwiches.  Bigger than cherry tomatoes about the size of tennis balls.  My friend Rachel thought may have cross-pollinated.

More tomatoes with scarlet runner beans and the smallest potatoes imaginable!  Little spuds dug up with bigger ones.

A bowl of gorgeous shallots harvested by my mom from her garden.  I grew some too from little bulbs but I have mostly eaten them.  Each clove or bulb will grow and separate into 5 or 6.  If you want some for next spring just leave one behind.  In fact some of the ones below can be planted for early spring shallots.  I might get greedy and cook with them all.

I think these are Japanese winter squash from seeds I had mailed to me by Daisy DeBolt.  Going to be a huge crop of pumpkins and squash this fall.

Below is a pretty kaboche squash I have been keeping my eye on.  I have seen other spellings and not sure.....  Dense orange flesh which is very sweet and delicious.  I have also seen them called pumpkin in Jamaica.  These seeds were from an organic squash I bought from Gypsy Whole Foods Warehouse.  I dried and saved them for planting this year.  It is easy to dry and save pumpkin and squash seeds from organic fruits and this can be a simple introduction to seed saving.  Free seeds for next year's garden!  A word of caution though... make sure they are totally dry before storing in glass jar or they may develop mold (been there).

Below is the kaboche squash just a few weeks before when still yellow.

A white or yellow pumpkin is below.  I bought the host at the Powassan's Farmer's Market last fall and saved seeds to plant this spring.  A local variety which has been very prolific this year.  I eat them like squash in stews and soups.  They over-winter very well in a cool room as do all the other squash and pumpkins we have been growing.

Hard to not mention Black Beauty eggplants.  The seedlings were started by Rachel.  We are waiting with bated breathe to see if we actually get eggplant!  It is usually too cold up here to grow eggplant without a greenhouse or covered beds.  These plants flowered a few weeks ago and fruit is setting in past few days.

Gorgeous plant with mauve flowers.  A bit out of focus but I only have a point and shoot camera and was at an odd angle getting the flower pic.

Tender young red cabbage.  Planted late but moving along now.  These can stay in the garden until November or longer if it isn't too cold.  Nice to have food that stays that long.

 This ends my garden tour!  Lots growing at Chapman's Landing!!

Amaranth - Red Hopi

There was a single "Hopi Red Dye" amaranth in some plants I received from my friend Daisy last summer (above).  The tiny little flowers in the foreground and around the amaranth are my perennial marjoram. This burgundy red beauty grew to 2 feet and is a tender annual that can re-seed in some areas.  In hotter areas it grows 4-6 feet tall.  Some of my cooking class students that are into gardening and landscaping told me that it is grown as a flower.  I got to thinking that it must be edible as amaranth is eaten as a grain in South America.  But was this red amaranth edible?

I did a bit of research and found that the baby leaves are edible and can also be used to add red contrast to salad greens. Young plants can be steamed and the seeds are also ground into a high-protein, gluten-free flour. It is said to have been used by the Hopi as a food dye and to produce red cornbread.  I dried the seeds so I can grow more this summer.  The seeds are smaller than poppy seeds and you can see a few of them around the dish of the plate below.  The grains, which are actually seeds, cook up a bit sticky so it is often recommended you cook them with other grains like rice or oats.

I also read that the seeds of amaranth can be cooked like rice or popped like popcorn. I don't have enough to do that but the idea intrigues me.  You would have to grow a lot of it for amaranth popcorn!  Have any of you tried popping it?  To pop the amaranth you heat the seeds in skillet, with or without oil and you are supposed to end up with  little white puffs.  Put a lid on it as they pop so they don't escape!  You can use these as mini croutons on soup or salad. I like that idea.

Both amaranth and quinoa were considered sacred by the Aztecs and Incas. Obviously the Hopi too given the name of this variety of amaranth plant.  I teach nutrition and I often site that there are 3 sources of complete proteins in the plant world - soy beans, amaranth and quinoa.  Amaranth has 15-18% protein.  Both grains contain high amounts of the amino acids lyseine and methionine which are generally present in low amounts in common grains.  Amaranth is higher in fibre and iron than whole-grain wheat and suited to gluten-free and wheat-free diets. 

NUTRITION FACTS (per 60 ml raw grain = 49 g dry): 180 calories, 3 g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 10 mg sodium, 33 g carbohydrate, 8 g fibre and 7 g protein.  % Daily Values are 4% vitamin C, 8% calcium and 20% iron.

Nancy Guppy, RD, MHSc.
Visit me at Chapman's Landing Cooking Studio website and find out more about our classes, menus and registration.