It was my turn to make dinner on Saturday (before Handsome Hombre had fixed the compressor).
My main motivation was to heat up the kitchen the minimum amount possible.
I opted for a Quiche Lorraine type dish baked in the microwave.
Substitutions were made. Bacon...there is no substitute for bacon. Shredded sharp cheddar and cottage cheese instead of Swiss. Sauteed onions were easy enough. Lambsquarters greens instead of spinach.
That caught Handsome Hombe's attention.
"This is just like 'bledo' back home. It is delicious!"
...later that day...
I was on the internet and looked up 'bledo'.
It is one of about fifty or sixty species of the genus Amaranthus. Amaranthus presumably evolved in the Western Hemisphere and was spread to the Old World before Columbus "discovered" America. Yeah, there is significant evidence that Columbus didn't so much discover America as much as he had the best PR team contesting the claim.
Amaranth is commonly called "Pigweed" in the US. It is a common weed. How common? The lambsquarter greens were harvested from the three northernmost rows of sweetcorn while the weeds dominating the three southernmost rows are dominated by Redroot Pigweed: Amaranth retroflexus.
Ecological niches
Shamelessly anthropomorphizing, a weed has to decide which ecological niche it will dominate. It can invest resources in defense: Thorns, toxins, hairy surfaces, unpalatable chemicals. All of those defenses come at a cost. Or it can be the "rabbit" of the weed-universe and rely on pure, reproductive efficiency to outrun predation.
Most amaranth opt for the rabbit model. No toxins to gum-up photosynthesis. No thorns or bitterness. Like a 1969 Dodge Charger with a Hemi, it was a straight-line 1/4 mile rocket from seed germination to making more seeds.
Three species were domesticated in pre-Columbus America
- Amaranthus cruentus
- Amaranthus hypochondriacus
- Amaranthus caudatus
- and maybe Amarantus hybridus
Other species were domesticated in the Old World, notably
- Amaranthus tricolor
- Amaranthus viridis
One characteristic of domesticated crops is that the seeds and leaves are often much, much larger than their wild progenitors. There is often a trade-off between time to maturity (longer for domesticated) in exchange for higher yields. That results in the domesticated Amaranthus species offering lush "greens" for a longer period of time than the wild species.
Is it worth planting domesticated Amaranthus?
Heck if I know. I think the answer is "Absolutely yes" if you want a grain crop.
The benefits are less clear for "greens". Wild greens are almost free, available for just the labor of picking them and time invested in knowing which ones are desirable. Planting some domesticated varieties and letting them go to seed might have some advantages to upgrade the seed-bank but one must weight the advantages of making one's weeds more vigorous against the advantages of better pot-herbs in a total go-to-hell situation if vegetable seeds became totally regulated.
A few links:
Native Seeds (of the Southwest)
I have tried amaranth repeatedly with zero luck. Allegedly it can go to seed easily, and is a favorite of small songbirds. I can't even get it to germinate!
ReplyDeleteMany "weeds" with small seeds seem to need light to germinate.
DeleteIt makes sense from the standpoint of the seedling surviving. A small seed does not have much reserve to push through an overburden of soil. Better is should wait for disturbance to bring it to the surface.
You might try scattering the seeds on the surface and keeping the soil visibly damp for a few days.
I spent many hours in my youth pulling and chopping pigweed from my father's garden, mostly from around corn and other row crops. Bushel baskets full of the stuff. My recollection was that the stem broke off easily, and so you had to really get a grip down at soil level, or dig it out by the roots. His philosophy was that any plant that was growing where you didn't want it was a weed.
ReplyDeleteJust a random thought. If I remember correctly, the Mopar 440 would beat the 426 hemi in the quarter mile most of the time. Not so much in the round-y-rounds. I'd still take the hemi regardless. Nothing to do with your excellent article, just saw a rabbit.
ReplyDelete