- Type
- Grains
- Difficulty
- Easy
- Season
- Summer·Fall
- Sowing
- From seed
Amaranth seed
Amaranthus spp.
The seed of amaranth, a black grain that only fills after frost
Amaranth seed is exactly that: the seed of the amaranth plant whose leaves and stems Koreans eat as a summer green. After flowering, the spike fills with very small, very dark grains. The Donguibogam records them under the name hyeonsil in its vegetable section, noting that the seed ripens only after frost, that it is fine and black, and that it is gathered in the ninth and tenth lunar months. Within the same entry the text separates stems and leaves, red amaranth and purple amaranth, and states flatly that of the six kinds of amaranth only two, in-hyeon and baek-hyeon, are used in medicine. Because the old entry gathers several kinds under one heading, and because the boundaries between species in this group are still drawn differently from one list to the next, this guide stops at the genus, Amaranthus, rather than pinning the entry to a single binomial. In Korean cities you meet the leaf first, sold as chambireum in summer markets; the seed you get by leaving a flower spike alone in your own pot.
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Where It Grows
- Main producer Kiwicha (Amaranthus caudatus) is grown in the Andean valleys. This is the leading producing region for grain amaranth.
- Main producer The A. hypochondriacus and A. cruentus lines are grown on the central plateau. It lies within the region where domestication took place.
- Major producer In the Andean highlands, the same lines are grown as in Peru.
- Major producer In the Himalayan foothills it is called rajgira and is planted in place of upland rice.
Grain amaranth was domesticated separately in two regions — Mesoamerica (A. hypochondriacus and A. cruentus) and the Andes (A. caudatus) — so its origin is not pinned to any single country. FAO has no separate entry for grain amaranth, so there are no statistics for comparing output country by country; the list above names the places where cultivation has actually carried on. The amaranth (bireum) that comes up in Korea's fields and vacant lots is a mix of leaf-use lines and naturalised lines, and is not the same as the grain lines.
- Optimum
- 22~30℃
- Range
- 15~35℃
- Hardiness
- Not hardy
- Day length
- Short-day
A C4-photosynthesis summer crop, it stands up well to heat and drought. The seed heads only rise and the seeds only ripen once summer has passed and the days grow shorter; frost kills the plant where it stands, so the heads are harvested around the time of the first frost.
In Korea Nationwide
It comes up on its own along field edges and in vacant lots throughout the country. It tolerates heat well and grows even in midsummer, and the seeds ripen in October–November, after frost has fallen.
How to grow
- Light
- Five hours of direct sun or more. Stronger light deepens the colour in the red forms. It handles heat extremely well and grows through the worst of a Korean summer.
- Soil and depth
- Undemanding. Ordinary potting mix at pH 6.0 to 7.0 works. Keep the feeding light, though, since nitrogen-rich soil pushes nitrate into the leaves.
- Spacing
- 10 to 15 cm apart for leaf, 25 to 30 cm if you want seed. Three or four plants in a 25 cm pot.
- Watering
- Water when the surface dries. It tolerates drought, but running short toughens the leaves and brings the flower stalk on early.
- Feeding
- A base dressing is enough. If you are growing for seed, stop feeding once the flower stalk rises.
- Harvest
- For leaf, cut the growing tips from 30 to 40 days after sowing. For seed, follow the original text and wait until after frost in the ninth or tenth month, when the spike has dried brown and black grains fall when you run a hand along it. Cut whole spikes into a paper bag, dry them, then rub and winnow.
What makes the difference. Cut flower stalks on sight if you want to keep picking leaves; leave them from August onward if you want seed. A single plant produces tens of thousands of seeds, which means seedlings across the entire pot next spring. Bag the spikes or cut them before the seed sets if you would rather avoid that. For a side dish, blanch 30 seconds, rinse in cold water and squeeze hard.
Common problems
- Aphids You will see Colonies massing on shoot tips and flower spikes, leaves curling What to do Wash them off with water; if they persist, spray a soy-lecithin oil mix onto the leaf undersides.
- Cabbage moth caterpillars You will see Large ragged holes in the leaves with black droppings underneath What to do Check leaf undersides after dark and early in the morning and pick them off.
- White rust You will see White blister-like spots on leaf undersides with yellowing above What to do It spreads after rain, so remove infected leaves and thin the planting for airflow.
This page describes how a crop is grown and used. It does not claim health effects for any food, nor is it intended to prevent or treat disease. Component and study notes are references only and do not mean the same result occurs in people. Consult a medical professional about health concerns.
Health Benefits
What the Donguibogam recorded. Amaranth appears in the Donguibogam's vegetable section as hyeonsil, with separate notes for the seed and for the stems and leaves. It groups the pale forms together and sets the red and purple ones apart. This is a record from a seventeenth-century medical text, not a modern medical judgement.
Research on the genus. Antioxidant activity assays on betalains and polyphenols from Amaranthus species have been reported a number of times. Most of this work sits at the laboratory or animal level.
Nutrition
- Protein (About 14 g per 100 g on grain-amaranth figures) — Unusually high in lysine for a grain
- Dietary fiber (Present, on grain-amaranth figures) — The grain is eaten whole rather than milled
- Gluten (Not present) — A grain without the gluten proteins of wheat and barley
- The grain itself (Fine and black) — Amaranth from Korean fields and waste ground sets even smaller seed, impractical to gather as a grain
The seed is the same genus as grain amaranth Amaranth seed belongs to the same genus as the amaranth eaten as a grain in South America. Grain amaranth runs around 14 g of protein per 100 g and is unusually high in lysine for a grain. Korean field and waste-ground amaranth, though, produces far smaller seed and is not practical to harvest as a grain, exactly as the original text says when it calls the seed fine and black.
Oxalate in the leaves Amaranth leaves and stems carry a fair amount of oxalate. It is the source of the faint sourness and the chalky finish you notice when chewing. Blanching pulls a good share of it into the water, which is why you always blanch amaranth for a side dish and always throw the water away.
Betalains in the red forms The deep colour of red and purple amaranth comes from betalain pigments, the same family that colours beetroot and cockscomb. They are water-soluble and will stain whatever they are cooked with. That is the property the original text is describing when it says purple amaranth can be used to dye other vegetables.
Iron and calcium in the leaves For a leafy green, amaranth is respectable on iron and calcium. The oxalate in the same leaf binds both, however, so the number on a nutrition table is not the number that reaches you. Blanching to cut the oxalate and dressing with perilla oil is the practical answer, and also the reason it has always been eaten as a cooked namul.
Pairings
○ Doenjang and perilla oil — Blanched amaranth dressed with doenjang and perilla oil is the standard preparation. Blanching takes the sourness out and fermented saltiness moves into the space it leaves.
○ Garlic and sesame — Garlic and sesame tidy up the grassy note that raw amaranth carries. Eat it soon after dressing, or water pools in the bowl. Garlic · Sesame
○ Tofu and egg — This turns the oxalate problem around. Eating calcium-rich food alongside means the oxalate binds calcium in the gut instead, and less of it is absorbed.
△ Oxalate and kidney stones — Amaranth sits on the high side for oxalate, so anyone with a history of calcium oxalate stones should not eat it often or in quantity. Blanching in plenty of water and discarding the water removes a good part of it. Eating it raw in a salad, or juicing it, is not a good idea.
△ Plants loaded with nitrate — Amaranth takes up soil nitrogen efficiently and is known as a crop that accumulates nitrate. Avoid amaranth from heavily nitrogen-fertilised ground, particularly plants with thick, unnaturally dark leaves. Blanching reduces nitrate too, and cooked amaranth should not be left standing at room temperature.
△ Treating garden seed as a grain — The original text handles the seed as a medicinal material, not as something to cook with rice. Seed from a field or roadside plant is tiny, hard-coated, and of unknown provenance. If you want to eat amaranth as a grain, buy food-grade amaranth.
Varieties
- Chambireum (Seed) — Corresponds to the 人莧 the original text put into medicine. Tender leaves, the most used as a green.
- Baekhyeon (Seed) — A pale-stemmed, pale-leaved line. The text records it alongside chambireum for medicine.
- Red amaranth (Seed) — The 赤莧 of the text. Deep red stems and leaves.
- Purple amaranth (Seed) — The 紫莧 of the text. Purple throughout; recorded as able to stain other vegetables.
- Ornamental amaranth (Seed) — A line planted for its showy leaf colour.
Source: Donguibogam, Vegetable Section (莧實) · Korean Plant Names Index · Rural Development Administration (nongsaro.go.kr)