Amaranth

Amaranth, also called ramdhana, chua, bathua, pungikeerai or thotakura in India is a vegetable/herb that typically grows as an annual, which is defined as a plant that matures and completes its lifecycle over the course of a single year.

Amaranth comes in all sizes, shapes and colours. The leaves can be round or lance shaped, five to fifteen cm long or more, light green, dark green, reddish or variegated. Seeds maybe white, yellow, pink or black and the striking flowers can be huge tassles or tiny globes, red, pink, yellow or cream that produces a huge number of tiny seeds (around 60,000- 1,00,000!)

Some cultivated amaranth varieties grow to two metres or six feet tall and individual plants that land in a spot with no competition may grow even taller.

Aside from amaranth being such an attractive plant it is extremely adaptable to adverse growing conditions. It resists heat and drought, has no major disease problems, and is among the easiest of plants to grow. Simply scratching the soil, throwing down some seeds, and watering will reward you with some of these lovely plants.

Like all fast growing leafy greens amaranth loves rich soil with steady moisture and a good supply of nutrients. Amaranth is a hardier plant and can cope with heat and dry conditions a lot better than any other leafy green. Due to a high requirement of nutrients, especially nitrogen, using a leguminous cover crop such as clover, beans and peas can provide adequate organic nitrogen.

Amaranth requires full sun light and while sowing the seeds plant 4-6 in a sq. ft around a centimetre deep.

Some varieties can get quite tall and may need the support of canes. Check the height of your crop before you sow so that you can place your canes before the plants are of a size since there is a chance that the roots can become damaged by their insertion.

Amaranths are ready for harvest in 20–45 days after planting or sowing depending on the variety and plant type. Plants may be harvested once or several times. With multiple harvests, young leaves and tender shoots are picked at 2–3 week intervals. Frequent harvesting of leaves and shoots delays the onset of flowering and thus prolongs the harvest period.

For mature plants, harvest leaves and stem from the top to encourage further side shoots. Remove any flowers as soon as their buds appear otherwise leaf production will come to an end.

Amaranth seeds are high in protein and contain respectable amounts of lysine and methionine, two essential amino acids that are not frequently found in grains. They are high in fiber and contain calcium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, and vitamins A and C.

The fiber content of amaranth is three times that of wheat and its iron content five times more than wheat. The leaves contain three times the amount of both calcium and niacin (vitamin B3) compared to spinach leaves or twenty times more calcium and seven times more iron than lettuce.

Amaranth also contains tocotrienols (a form of vitamin E) which have cholesterol-lowering activity in humans. Cooked amaranth is 90% digestible and because of this ease of digestion, it has traditionally been given to those recovering from an illness or ending a fasting period.

Author: Vaibhav Dugar
Me, I am a Green Warrior and yes you are either with me or against me! On paper I’m a telecommunication engineer but professionally, a farmer. Work takes me setting many-a-farms, tilling many-a-lands and playing with soil which I thoroughly enjoy. I love playing football (avidly), going cycling, watching Formula 1 and writing!

If you need company to watch Formula 1, pit stop at Vaibhav.Dugar [at] EkTitli.org

To receive updates in your inbox, click here

Contribute:
If you wish to have your work published at Ek Titli, please click here for more details.