Pointers for harvesting amaranth/pigweed seeds?

[!potatoes!]

I've been cutting so much volunteer lamb's quarters and the wild green amaranth out of our main garden area that the kale I cut goes bad in the fridge...none of the wild stuff is near flowering yet, but it's big, some stems nearly a centimeter in diameter, and I've found that the stems and all can be steamed, and the stems act like asparagus, super tender...nice. I'll reach for the bag of 'weeds' in the fridge 3 out of 4 times I go for greens, go figure.

the year I get nothing but thistle volunteers, that may change, but I'm beginning to get the impression that if I applied myself to scavenging the neighborhood's waste plants, I wouldn't have to plant greens at all until late summer, when the 'weeds' are finally going to seed.

[GrandMomMom]

Wow!

Are you people actually telling me that you can eat pigweed???

How would I know that we are talking about the same thing?

[!potatoes!]

[img]https://i82.photobucket.com/albums/j248/khoomeizhi/for%20web/pigweed.jpg[/img]

if you're talking about this stuff, we're talking about the same thing, and IT'S DELICIOUS.

[GrandMomMom]

Thank you so much for the picture of the plant in question!

I really think I am going to like this site!

[!potatoes!]

I hope so.

welcome.

[opabinia51]

Pigweed, that's interesting; I'll keep my eye out for it. And lambs quarters, that's one I'll put in my garden next year. I've seen the name for years but, I think I'll plant it now.

Do you have Seedy Saturdays in your region?

[!potatoes!]

?....not that I know of.

[opabinia51]

Oh, to bad. they are great places for getting seeds, information and the like. Try looking it up on the web.

[!potatoes!]

lots of seed/plant swaps around here, mostly in the spring/early summer....preliminary web searches suggest there isn't any particularly 'seedy saturday' type thing going on.

[applestar]

Ah oh. I ate my black amaranth seeds...
"First of all on Amaranth be careful--the seed of the white seeded varieties is edible and the seed of the black seeded varieties is NOT. " ( https://www.horizonherbs.com/group.asp?grp=32 )
Well they tasted good cooked with brown rice and I'm still here.

Anyway, this website also provides description on how to harvest the seeds.

[thanrose]

While paler seeds may be preferred for eating, it's not true that they are inedible. I've eaten amaranth seed from wild amaranth and from vegetable amaranth. It needs to be cooked whatever the source and whatever the color. And cooking is principally to make the nutrients available for digestion. I've roasted and ground them for flour or cereal use, and added whole to breads and casseroles.

For wild edibles, and that includes garden plants that most people would neer think of eating, it's generally best to find at least two sources that clearly identify what you are eating as to time of year, method of preparation, clear identification, and wholesome environment. The mnemonic for remembering that is either TIME or ITEM depending on how you want to remember:

Identify
Time of year
Method of prep
Environment

[applestar]

Thanks, thanrose. It IS important to emphasize the safety cautions. They sometimes get lost or forgotten in enthusiasm. I like the mnemonic you gave -- very easy to remember.
(For my part, this was the first time I ever came across anyone saying the black seeds aren't good to eat, so I'm not sure what that was about, but I thought I'd just mention it. )

[thanrose]

Yeah, it certainly made me look again. But I've been wild crafting a couple of Amaranth spp. for years, and have grown a couple of others.

I think it was only spiny amaranth that I ate in New Jersey 40-50 years ago, but I didn't have loads of reference material back then.