Ever Heard Of Amaranth?

I hadn't until a couple of months ago. I've lived here all my life. 43 years in North America and 39 of those in Texas. I've probably driven by or walked by the stuff numerous times but had no idea what it was.  It has the decidedly unflattering common name "Pigweed" but it was to many Native American tribes what wheat is to those of European descent. Amaranth is actually more useful and versatile than wheat and can be easily grown and harvested in a small growing space. It is remarkably nutrient rich, providing a wide array of necessary vitamins. When the plant is young and fresh you can cut leaves from it and use them as you would use spinach. The seeds are often red and in addition to their edibility they make a great burgundy red dye. Not only can you grind the seeds up to make flour which can be used to make flat breads, or combined with other grain flours to make biscuits, muffins, etc. but you can take the seeds and heat them in a skillet and they will pop like popcorn to make a healthy, nutritious snack. Because it is gluten free it won't make light, fluffy breads. But it can be used to make something like a pita bread for wraps or as tortillas. It is a native to America and grows extremely well here. In fact, if left unchecked it could become invasive on you so harvest the seeds judiciously if you grow it or just use it as a green and cut it down before it seeds if you desire.


If this plant is so useful what happened to cause it to fall out of vogue? Amaranth was the staple diet of the ancient Aztecs until Spain conquered their empire. Amaranth was associated with human sacrifice and it is said that Aztec women would make a mixture of ground amaranth seed, honey or human blood then shape it into figures that were eaten in religious ceremony. This horrified the Spaniards. So it was decided that eliminating the amaranth would stop the practice. The grain was forbidden and afterwards became lost to most of civilization for hundreds of years except in a few remote places. Only in recent decades has it been rediscovered and found to be a very useful, nutritious and easy to grow plant. You might want to give it a try!




Resources:




Eleven Non Typical Crops For The Survival Garden - Jack Spirko gives a lot of background and nutritional info about Amaranth and several other non-typical garden crops in this episode of The Survival Podcast from December 22, 2008.


Amaranth on Wikipedia


You Can Buy Amaranth Seeds at Sustainable Seed Company


A Recipe for Using Amaranth As A Rice Substitute

More Info About the Nutritional Value and Uses For Amaranth