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My gardener planted some seeds for some vegetables he calls "red leaf". At the market, it's called the same thing. After a long search today, I finally found a picture with a name to match. It is Amaranth. I found the nutrition value on it, but my brain is too fuzzy right now to remember if these values are good for turtles or not. Would one of you decipher for me? I am sorry to be such a doofus, but I've just spent 10 days in the hospital, and one of the meds is making me wonky.

Amaranth leaves have a high content of essential micronutrients. The dry matter content is high (9–22%). The average composition of Amaranthus (probably mainly Amaranthus cruentus) per 100 g edible portion is (averages of about 40 samples): water 84.0 g (78.4–91.3), energy 176 kJ (42 kcal), protein 4.6 g (3.2–6.0), fat 0.2 g (trace–0.6), carbohydrate 8.3 g, fibre 1.8 g (0.4–6.4), Ca 410 mg (69–833), P 103 mg (54–230), Fe 8.9 mg (0.6–10.2), β-carotene 5716 μg, thiamin 0.05 mg (0.05–0.06), riboflavin 0.42 mg (0.36–0.44), niacin 1.2 mg, ascorbic acid 64 mg

Red Leaf Lettuce? If it Red Leaf Lettuce than its fine.

Amaranth isn't the same as red leaf lettuce. I've never seen the leaves, but have eaten crackers and cookies made with the grain. What do you use the leaves for, salads?

If that P after the Calcium (Ca) is phosphorus, then that's a good calcium/phosphorus ratio. It has a good amount of beta-carotene in it as well (this is converted to Vit A, and there are no worries about getting to much Vit A when it's in that form).

marisa wrote:Amaranth isn't the same as red leaf lettuce. I've never seen the leaves, but have eaten crackers and cookies made with the grain. What do you use the leaves for, salads?

If that P after the Calcium (Ca) is phosphorus, then that's a good calcium/phosphorus ratio. It has a good amount of beta-carotene in it as well (this is converted to Vit A, and there are no worries about getting to much Vit A when it's in that form).

Thanks, Marisa. The men here cook it like spinach. My gardener is Sri Lankan, and brought the seeds with him. I will be interested to see how Fred likes it. It isn't grown enough yet to harvest. It's always good to have more in the veggie arsenal. Especially when summer hits and the romaine disappears. I appreciate your help.