Huazontle Seeds
Huazontle Seeds - Chenopodium nuttalliae - Aztec Spinach
Aztec Spinach
- Annual
Full Sun
- Germination Tested November 4, 2025: 94%
- Approximately 100 seeds per pack
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Huazontle is a vastly underappreciated food in many places. It is an undemanding, reliable crop, provided you don’t plant the small seeds too deep. It grows fast in average soil, providing leaves once cooked do indeed taste like spinach. In Mexico, the green, immature seed heads are eaten, and the grain is apparently edible too. It produces beautiful, bright pink-red stalks and seed heads, making it strikingly ornamental as well. It’s heat and drought tolerant and quite resilient. It is fun and interesting to grow.
Adrian Chiles, Guardian columnist, calls Huazontle his “favourite new superfood.” This relative of quinoa is pretty obscure in Northern Turtle Island, so when Skye discovered someone, anyone, talking about it, she was surprised — and delighted.
From a taxonomy perspective, it seems undecided if this plant is its own species or a subspecies of Chenopodium berlandieri. The science is clear however, that it has a long history of both wild collection and cultivation in both North America and Mexico, and it’s likely it was domesticated twice, once in Eastern North America and once in Mexico:
“In eastern North America, archaeological evidence indicates that Ch. berlandieri was harvested as a wild plant as early as 8,500 B.P. [before present time] and was an important domesticated crop plant in the region for >3,500 years (from ca. 1850 B.C. to A.D. 1750)”
“The archaeological record of Mexico also offers clear evidence of human harvesting of wild stands of Ch. berlandieri, along with a variety of other plants producing similarly sized small seeds, for thousands of years before the arrival of the Spanish.”
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Seeds are grown by our friend Skye at Tardigrade Seeds on Salt Spring Island, BC.
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Growing Info: Grow Huazontle in the summer, starting it after there is no chance of frost. One way to determine a good starting time is to watch weeds: if lambsquarters is sprouting, it should
be time to plant this as well. If growing only for greens, you can start early summer for fastest growth. Otherwise, you may need to start late spring. This plant grows well in average soils, provided soil is well-drained and it receives full sun. The
seeds are small, making sowing somewhat tricky. I have only direct sown it, but I imagine transplanting, if done at a small size, would also work. Sow on soil surface, lightly press into soil, and cover no more than 1⁄8” deep. Don’t let it dry out. Space plants 6” apart for greens production, and 2-3’’ apart if you want to grow full-sized plants — over 6’. Selectively harvest leaves as it grows or cut off whole branches.
For traditional Mexican dishes, harvest green stalks with green seedheads.
Dry growing info:
It is quite heat and drought tolerant. Our patch was grown without irrigation, in the poorer, drier part of the field, and the plants showed little evidence of water stress. If attempting to dry grow Huazontle, space plants widely, mulch, keep well weeded, and employ windbreaks.
Our large thanks to Siskiyou Seeds for providing our stock seed.
Growing Instructions
Growing Instructions
Shipping & Returns
Shipping & Returns
By placing an order, customers agree to the shipping & refund policies detailed on this page.
Most orders are sent via Canada Post to keep costs low.
Shipping within Canada
We ship seeds in Canada via Canada Post's regular letter mail, which is an untracked service, and usually takes 1-4 weeks to arrive once we fulfill your order, but occasionally letter mail takes up to 6 weeks, especially to the Eastern provinces and rural areas.
Customers can now opt for tracked, express shipping options at checkout if you require faster delivery and/or tracking.
Larger bulbs and plants are usually sent via tracked flat rate box.
Shipping to the US
UPDATE FEB 2, 2026: WE ARE TAKING A BREAK ON ACCEPTING US ORDERS DUE TO ISSUES WITH USPS
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Shipping Internationally
International customers can select tracked or untracked shipping at checkout. The package will list the contents as "Garden Seeds". It is your responsibility to ensure you have the required import permit. We are not able to send any live plant materials internationally. Cicada Seeds will not be responsible for any orders held or confiscated by customs, or for any additional duties or tariffs placed on your order.
International shipping countries include: Hong Kong SAR, Ireland, Japan, Malaysia, Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom. (List updated Aug 31, 2026)
This list may change without notice. Sometimes Canada Post will not allow us to ship to certain countries due to wars or natural disasters, see this page for delivery service alerts.
Refund Policy
Refunds: We stand behind our seeds, so if for some reason you are not satisfied with your purchase, please reach out to us via email and we will do our best to make it right. Please note that shipping costs are non-refundable.
Cancelled orders: If you wish to cancel an order after purchasing, we may refund your order minus card processing and admin fees at our discretion. We do not accept returns on seeds or plants.
Refused orders: We cannot issue a refund if you refuse to accept or do not claim an order we've mailed to you, or made available for local pickup.
Incorrect addresses: Please double check your mailing address, and let us know ASAP if you've entered an incorrect address at checkout. We may need to charge for additional shipping fees to resend orders.
Ecologically Grown
Ecologically Grown
Seeds are grown ecologically without the use of chemical pesticides or fertilizers.
