Experimenting with Amaranth
Experimenting with Amaranth
by Kristi Anderson, Biloxi
We’ve been experimenting with something new at our house this week. We discovered amaranth at the local whole foods store and decided to give it a try. I was intrigued by the tiny grains and versatility – amaranth can be ground into flour, popped, or sprouted. Since the whole crew already loves sprouts, we started there.
I’m experienced at sprouting, but found that amaranth posed a couple challenges. The tiny size causes a lot of clumping and makes it difficult to drain. I found that pouring it into a small mesh strainer and gently separating while I rinsed worked well. I also tilted the sprouting jar in a measuring cup for an hour or so after rinsing just to be sure it didn’t stay too wet.
The deep red color and amazing sweet smell of these tiny sprouts made us all eager to try them. I served them on top of our salad with dinner, but my five year old helped himself to a whole bowl of just sprouts and devoured them.
I think that amaranth will become a regular part of our diet as we try to cut out more gluten. In addition to being gluten free, it is low in fat and high in protein, calcium, potassium, and magnesium.
