Kitchen Garden Forum

My wife bought Mixed Leaf Amaranthus from The Real Seed Catalogue and now her friend has presented me with Red Leaf Calaloo to try. The books say these are the same thing but the seeds look quite different - the A are variable pale browns (perhaps that is the mixed bit) and the C are shiny black.
Anybody know anything about these things? Are they worth growing?

Hi Geoff,
Calaloo is of the Amaranthus family. It is the name of Amaranthus in the Caribberan which is obviously a tropical version of the ones your wife has bought.
I note that she has bought 'mixes leaves' which is obviously a medley of what is on offer in temperate climbs.
A word of warning: if you let them go to seed they may become invasive.
Cooking. The leaves can be used for any recipe containing Spinach. It is said to cook faster than
Spinach. Quite frankly Spinach only takes seconds to cook so I suppose it's a spiked shoe job!

Johnboy wrote:It is the name of Amaranthus in the Caribberan Cooking. The leaves can be used for any recipe containing Spinach.

Being half West Indian, I can recommend the cooked dish Callaloo, though it contains a few other ingredients, spices etc. There's a brief description below, though you can find plenty more if you Google.

Johnboy wrote:Quite frankly Spinach only takes seconds to cook so I suppose it's a spiked shoe job!

OK, JB, can you tell us a bit more about this expression? I take it it's nothing to do with having a strict cook in the kitchen?!


Here's some notes about Callaloo from http://www.b-v-i.com/Cooking/Callaloo/default.htm

Callaloo. Often thickened with okra and well-seasoned with chile peppers and other herbs, this irresistible West Indian soup may be ladled out of an iron cooking pot with a wooden spoon into a calabash bowl in a Caribbean version of age-old practices.

Callaloo comes in as many styles as there are islands and cooks, and now refers to a complex mixture with a "confusion" of ingredients (see song lyrics in link above). Strictly viewed, if that's possible, callaloo exhibits one constant: a spinach-like, tender green leaf. Generally from the dasheen family, the preferred variety has a large purple dot on its leaf. Sometimes the leaf is what is called callalou and the soup is called Pepperpot.

The focus on the "greens," including green vegetables like okra and the green leaf itself, and their preparation in the form of a thick soup or sauce, expresses African-inspired cooking, with its emphasis on the importance of greens and garden-variety seasonings, albeit in sensual, aromatic combinations.

Paradoxically, key ingredients of callaloo and gumbo-- the chile pepper and tomato-- originated in the New World. And their transport to Africa as foodstuffs during the Age of Discovery, before coming back as part of these distinctive dishes, demonstrates the complexity of this cultural "stew" that has enriched the Caribbean.

A dish, a gumbo, a mystery, even a love potion in the old calypso songs, Callaloo is emblematic of Caribbean cooking. Garlic, scallions, thyme and a Scotch bonnet pepper contribute to a combo that can be used to season many Caribbean dishes. And the parsley- substitute cilantro (coriander) is often added..

Sauteeing the seasoning in the cooking oil is a handy medium for the transport of flavor to food items, often in combination.

Hi Colin,
All I meant with the words 'spiked shoes' comment was that with spiked shoes it would allow you to go faster to keep up with the rapidly cooking Calaloo!
Absolutely nothing to do with masochism!

Johnboy wrote:with spiked shoes it would allow you to go faster to keep up with the rapidly cooking Calaloo!

Oh - you meant running shoes! Sorry

Can I take it that it's too wet to be out gardening up your way this morning too? Unfortunately I have no pending jobs in my greenhouse, other than a stack of plants waiting to be planted out in the allotment. They've been sat there patiently for the last week, whilst wind & gales rampaged outside.

Hi Colin,
Phew that a relief! When I read your posting I thought I must have goofed and there was some hidden meaning to what I had written that I am totally unaware of!
Plants here do not get planted out before the end of the first week in June, because of late frosts, so they are grown accordingly. That must sound a bit smug but is really only a fact of life. I wish I had the temperatures of Bristol, which, by the way, I visit quite regularly, as you are several weeks ahead of me generally.
It has been slahing down here most of the night and all day so far and our local river is getting close to bursting it's banks. When this happens I am marooned as whichever way I go the roads will be flooded. If it's on a Sunday morning when I am due it the pub I use the tractor as that rises above the flood water.

Well I thought I would put my three halfpence in about Amaranth. For the last three years I have grown two or three varities of "grain" Amaranth on my allotment. The idea was that we would use the grain for something although I never quite worked out what. We have a whole Tesco bag of seed that I am hoping my wife will use fpr the birds but its very fine and blows away very easily. She is hoping to use it in a home made fat feeder. I never realised about Callaloo until one of my Jamaican friends on the allotment called it that. I have never eaten the leaf. I wonder if Callaloo is a specific type grown for the leaf rather than the grain? It does self seed profusely but its easy to pull out and, quite frankly, its very attractive on teh plot when it flowers
The rain has been terrible in Brum. I haven't been able to get on the plot to weed and I suspect the slugs will be the size of submarines!!!