Maxxed Out Nutrition

Our second new kit is red garnet amaranth. With a striking red color and earthy beet like taste, this whimsical powerhouse stands out for its maxxed out nutrition.

Amaranth is emerging into the forefront among grains because of its remarkable nutrition. It's higher in minerals, such as calcium, iron, phosphorous, and carotenoids, than most vegetables. Amaranth is a great source of lysine, an important amino acid with protein content comparable to that of milk, more easily digested; neither can be said of other grains. 

Amaranth contains more than three times the amount of calcium and it's also high in magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. Amaranth contains 6 to 10% oil, predominantly unsaturated, or around 77% unsaturated fatty acids, including linoleic acid, required for optimum nutrition. Not least in this list, amaranth is the only grain with documented vitamin C content.

Noting in a "...Yale study on pea microgreens – or young pea seedlings as they were called back then – also discovered that the seedlings started to produce large amounts of vitamin K when they were exposed to light... Vitamin K functions as an electron acceptor when chlorophyll – abundant in all green plants including microgreens – absorbs sunlight to produce carbohydrates and oxygen during photosynthesis. Vitamin K also offers health benefits for humans by promoting normal blood clotting and preventing excessive bruising. Vitamin K also plays an important role in maintaining strong and healthy bones.

The 2012 microgreen study analyzed the levels of phylloquinone (the type of vitamin K produced by plants) in different micro-sized greens, and found the highest levels of vitamin K in amaranth microgreens (Red Garnet variety). The researchers observed marked differences in vitamin K concentration between different microgreens, with the values ranging from 0.6 to 4.1 micrograms per gram."
Source: healthwithfood.org

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