All plants /Ground /Amaranth
Amaranth
Amaranthus retroflexus, amaranth family. Abundant in East and Central and West Texas.
At a glance
- What
- Young leaves; seeds
- How
- Leaves cooked like spinach; seeds as grain
- When
- Warm months for greens
- Where
- Gardens, fields, disturbed rich soil
- Value
- Protein, vitamins A and C, calcium; seeds are a grain
Caution: A safe and nutritious green. Harvest from unsprayed ground, and as with spinach, don't rely on it as your only green day after day. Never eat a wild plant on this guide's word alone. Confirm identity against several sources and learn the look-alikes first.
Identification
Also called pigweed: upright, red-rooted, with dense green flower spikes. One of the world's oldest cultivated greens and grains hiding in the garden as a weed.
In the kitchen
Young leaves cook down like a mild spinach; the tiny seeds thresh out by the thousands and cook into a nutty porridge or grind to flour.
Photo: Lynk media, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Forages well with
Forage safely. Never eat a wild plant on this site's word alone. Confirm identity with several sources, learn the look-alikes, and when in doubt, leave it in the ground.