AMARANTHUS
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Amaranthus spp.
FAMILY: Amaranthaceae
Amaranth was once a widely-grown food of the Americas and a mystical food to the Incas, Aztecs and Mayans.
Like a lot of old world foods, Amaranth was cast aside in preference to large grains, e.g. corn, etc. At the time of Columbus, Amaranth was the basic food of Mexico. The Mexicans also planted the Amaranthus crop for protection against evil spirits and it was prepared for ceremonies on religious days.
When Cortes and the Conquistadores invaded Mexico, they eradicated these ceremonies and many of the Mexicans' traditions. Thousands of fields of Amaranth were burned and or destroyed and the growing of the crop was banned, as it was seen as a barbaric ritual food. Cortes was even known to cut off the hands of people who continued to eat Amaranth.
Overnight one of the most important crops of the Americas fell into obscurity, virtually the same thing happened to the Inca amaranth farmer. Out of four basic foods consumed in the Americas, only the potato survived the Spanish take over. The potato's survival was due to its low cost and easiness to grow to feed the miners.
Amaranth is a high-protein grain, which is becoming a popular crop in developing countries. Fast-growing Amaranth has broad leaves with sorghum-like grain heads up to 50 cm long, carrying 20,000 tiny seeds.
The growing of a variety of Amaranth can provide one with a complete balanced diet. The grain of Amaranthus edulis is rich in protein and has much higher percentage of lysine than maize, although deficient in leucine. Leucine can be found in some leafy varieties which are also high in protein.
Some young plants are used as pot herbs and is eaten as a boiled green. Others are planted as ornamentals. The amaranth plant is a handsome one and can still be seen today growing in India's high country and the Himalayas. The flowers glow in brilliant reds, golds and purples. The grain, once harvested, can be milled and made into bread, pancakes or powdered and mixed as a drink or mixed with honey or syrup to make a sweet, similar to the one eaten by the Aztecs and Mayans long ago.
Amaranth resists drought, heat and pests and adapts quickly to new environments, including some which are inhospitable to other grain crops.
Amaranth is being tested throughout the world today for breeding superior strains within local conditions; like peanuts, it is sensitive to the length of daylight hours. U.N.I.C.E.F. has provided funds for trials to be carried out in Peru, to promote an export crop so as to lessen their huge world debt. Research is being carried out in Australia at the Hermitage Research Station at Warwick in Queensland and is tagged as an Underexploited Tropical Plant. Most of the research done here is to discover the potential of amaranths to be included in the diets of pigs and chickens. In the U. S. A., amaranth production is targeted at the health and natural food market, so relatively little research has been done into its use as livestock feed.
The ancient 'Heritage' of the Incas, that was scorned by Pizarro and his adventurers and the Spanish who followed, could now provide a whole new source of nutritious foods for the planet. The Mexican engineer, Rodolfo Neri Vela, took seeds from the amaranthus in the space shuttle Atlantis in 1985, for a seven-day flight to procure more information for his study on the seeds' germination reliability, even in the weightlessness of space. N.A.S.A. also prepared cereals, drinks and cakes made from amaranthus for the flight.
As yet, most Amaranthus products are only supplied through health food outlets, America being the largest importer.
DATE: September 1989
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