Amazing Amaranth
(Page 2 of 5)
April/May 2005
By Scott Vlaun
Golden Grain of the Aztecs
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Amaranth is such a highly productive crop that it’s no surprise this plant was revered for millennia by ancient cultures and has since spread across the planet. The first known record of amaranth is from about 6,000 years ago and was found in a mountain cave near Mexico City. When the Spanish showed up on the scene in the 1500s, amaranth was being widely cultivated by the Aztecs, who called it “Huautli” and used it in a variety of their foods. It also was an integral part of their religious practice — they made figurines from the puffed seeds, mixing them with honey or blood, as offerings to the gods.
In an effort to eradicate the Aztec religion, amaranth cultivation was banned by the conquistadors. By the late 20th century, it had all but vanished from the region as a food crop, but vestiges of the traditional use of amaranth still exist in some areas where a confection of popped amaranth seeds and honey, called “alegria” (happiness), can still be found in markets. In the Mexican state of Oaxaca, where hunger and poverty are widespread among indigenous people, a successful initiative was started in 1996 to revive amaranth as an important food crop
Amaranth also was used to a lesser degree by the ancient Inca culture in South America, where it is still found and known by the name “Kiwichi.” But in modern times, the most widespread use may be in Asia — especially in India — where it is both a leaf and grain crop.ominique Guillet, a French seedsman and founder of the Kokopelli Seed Foundation, which works to supply free organic, heirloom seeds to poor farmers worldwide, says thousands of amaranth varieties are still surviving in India, Mongolia and Sri Lanka, including 3,000 varieties in a single seed bank in India. “It is the perfect crop for poor farmers,” Guillet says. “It grows in poor soils without irrigation, it is easy to harvest and thresh without machinery, and it provides high-quality protein, second only to mothers’ milk.” Guillet also loves amaranth because it is so productive. “From one plant, from one tiny seed, you can get more than 100,000 seeds, maybe more!”
Grow your own “supergrain”
The superior nutrition, hardiness and taste that make amaranth so attractive to small farmers in developing countries also make amaranth perfect for the backyard gardener or small farmer in North America. In addition, amaranth growers continue to find new uses for the plant. Because of its large size and quick growth, amaranth can be planted in thick stands to form a windbreak, a strategy that has been used successfully at the Seeds of Change research farm near Santa Fe, N.M. Amaranth also makes a terrific trellis for pole beans; each amaranth plant can support two to three bean plants.
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