Amaranth (greens)

About Amaranth (greens)

Vegetable amaranth, also called callaloo, Chinese spinach or tampala, is a fast, heat-loving leafy green with green, red or splashed leaves. It keeps producing tender greens through hot summers when spinach and lettuce quit. It is a different plant from globe amaranth (gomphrena), and the cultivated kinds are not the weedy pigweeds or Palmer amaranth, though they are in the same genus.

Grown as a warm-season annual in every zone; cold kills it, so it is planted after frost and grows best at 70-85F.

When to plant

Timing is counted from your average last spring frost (and first fall frost). Sow & Tell works out the actual dates for your ZIP code.

• Start seeds indoors: 3 weeks before the last frost

Days count from seeding: young leaves and tips are ready about 3 to 6 weeks after sowing. Sow 1/8 to 1/2 inch deep outdoors in late spring or early summer once soil is warm (seed sprouts poorly below about 60F), or start transplants about 3 weeks ahead and set them out after the last frost.

Soil

Light, fertile, well-drained soil; it tolerates poor soil but can get root rot if kept too wet.

Use light, fertile, well-drained soil in full sun; it tolerates low fertility.

Feeding

Avoid nitrogen fertilizer, which can make the leaves build up nitrates, and avoid soggy soil, which causes root rot.

Harvest

Pick young, tender leaves and shoot tips, or cut whole stalks just above a leaf node; the plant regrows new shoots for more cuttings. Pinching off flower spikes keeps it leafy.

Cut stalks just above a leaf node and the plant sends up new shoots for more harvests; cool weather ends it.

Varieties (1)

The extension sources we could open name only one vegetable amaranth variety; seed is usually sold by leaf color or as 'callaloo'. Ornamental Joseph's-coat cultivars aren't listed here.

Pests to watch for

Aphids, Leafminers, Cutworms, Flea beetles, Twospotted spider mite

Diseases and problems

Root and crown rot, Phytophthora blight

In the kitchen

Cook the leaves like spinach, as in the Caribbean dish callaloo, or use young leaves raw in salads; thinned seedlings make microgreens.

Keeping it: Bundle the greens and refrigerate them right after picking.

Safety: Go easy on nitrogen fertilizer: amaranth leaves can build up excess nitrates (Cornell).

Pets: Not listed by the ASPCA