Green in garden, fresh on table. Welcome to Asiangarden2table.
The weather in Florida is getting so hot these days.
It feels like summer time is here.
Summer is great season for fruits and beans, but not for green leafy vegetables.
Today I will introduce a great green for hot summer: Amaranth.
When I was a kid, Amaranth was actually a weed which would grow everywhere without any care.
As kids, we just needed to walk around in the yard for few minutes
and a full basket of tender, fresh and colorful Amaranth got picked and were ready to cook.
Not long after more people realize that Amaranth is so easy to grow, tasty and healthy.
It is trained into farm-grown vegetable
and available in vegetable market everywhere in summer time.
Amaranth is rich with Calcium, iron and Vitamin K, and good for your health.
Because it is also cool and detoxifying, it is also considered to help with weight loss.
Amaranth likes warm and hot weather,
the best temperature for growing Amaranth is 72~85 degree,
temperature lower than 68 degree, it grows slowly.
Temperature lower than 50 F, it has difficulty to germinate.
Sow the seeds in potting mix and keep the soil moist.
In a week Amaranth will grow Cotyledon.
In about a month, it will grow 4~5 leaves.
You can choose to let it grow bigger in seed starter
and then harvest as baby green or you can transplant the seedlings in soil.
Add a lot of organic fertilizer, turn over the soil and bury it deep.
Plant Amaranth about half foot apart.
You can plant them closer and later harvest the young plants.
After transplanting, Amaranth will grow very fast
in two weeks, it will grow about 1 foot high. It is a great time to pick.
You can pull out the whole plant if you have too many
or just pick the shoots and let the plant grow more shoots from the side.
Young Amaranth is very tender.
You can eat it as salad, simple stir-fry or add in soup.
After picking, Amaranth’s new shoots will grow about half foot long in 10 days and are ready to pick again.
By doing this, you can keep your Amaranth producing for few weeks.
Because Amaranth grows fast, you can grow several batches if temperature is appropriate.
So you can harvest it any time you want for the whole summer.
Amaranth has many varieties.
Generally speaking, there are long leaf, round leaf by leaf’s shape,
or by color white, green, red or mixed red and green.
Their texture and flavor are similar but may vary a little bit.
White and green are more flavorful while red and mixed color are tenderer.
Amaranth is short day plant.
In autumn time when the temperature is high and the day gets shorter, it may start to grow flower.
If you grow Amaranth at this season, try to harvest it early before it blooms.
In China, other than Amaranth’s young shoots or plant, some people also like to eat its stems.
After removing the skin, Amaranth’s stem is crispy and has mild flavor.
A simple stir-fry with some meat will make it a great dish.
So now you know one more Asian vegetable.
If you want to grow it for this summer, please visit our website
at asiangarden2table.com/shop to order the seeds.
Thank you very much.
Please subscribe for more Asian vegetable to come.
I will see you next time.