Heart to Hearth Cookery

Processing Amaranth Seed

Amaranth seed is an ancient “grain”.  It was used by the Mayans, Aztecs, Incas and was in common use by the Lenape inhabiting Lenapehoking (now currently Delaware, New Jersey, eastern Pennsylvania and southwestern New York).  Pictured is my first attempt at experimenting with the processing of the seed.  I have a large elm-bark basket of amaranth (commonly called pigweed) at my feet and another smaller elm-bark basket in my lap.  Some of the seed comes off by just tapping the amaranth on the basket but I found that just rotating my fingers around the plant was more thorough in removing the seed.