 | Amaranth: Encyclopedia II - Amaranth - Cultivation and uses
Amaranth - Cultivation and uses
Several species are raised for amaranth grain in Asia and the Americas. Amaranth grain is a crop of moderate importance in the Himalaya. It was one of the staple foodstuffs of the Incas, and it is known as kiwicha in the Andes today. It was also used by the ancient Aztecs, who called it huautli, and other Amerindian peoples in Mexico to prepare ritual drinks and foods. To this day, amaranth grains are toasted much like popcorn and mixed with honey or molasses to make a treat called alegría (literally "joy") in Mexican Spanish.
Amaranth was used in several Aztec ceremonies, where images of their gods (notably Huitzilopochtli) were made with amaranth mixed with honey. The images were cut to be eaten by the people. This looked like the Christian communion to the Catholic priests, so the cultivation of the grain was forbidden for centuries.
Because of its importance as a symbol of indigenous culture, and because it is very palatable, easy to cook, and its protein particularly well suited to human nutritional needs, interest in grain amaranth (especially A. cruentis and A. hypochondriaca) was revived in the 1970s. It was recovered in Mexico from wild varieties and is now commercially cultivated. It is a popular snack sold on almost every block of Mexico City, sometimes mixed with chocolate or puffed rice, and its use has spread to Europe and North America. Besides protein, amaranth grain provides a good source of dietary fiber and dietary minerals such as iron, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, and especially manganese.
Amaranth greens, also called Chinese spinach, hinn choy or yin tsoi (Simplified Chinese: 苋菜; Hanyu Pinyin: xiàncài), callaloo, tampala, or quelite, are a common leaf vegetable throughout the tropics and in many warm temperate regions. They are a very good source of vitamins including vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, riboflavin, and folate, and dietary minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc, copper, and manganese. However their moderately high content of oxalic acid inhibits the absorption of calcium, and also means that they should be avoided or eaten in moderation by people with kidney disorders, gout, or rheumatoid arthritis.
The flowers of the Hopi Red Dye amaranth were used by the Hopi Indians as the source of a deep red dye. This dye has been supplanted by a coal tar dye known as Red No. 2 in North America and E123 in the E.E.C., also known as amarynth.
The genus also contains several well-known ornamental plants, such as A. caudatus (love-lies-bleeding), a native of India and a vigorous, hardy annual with dark purplish flowers crowded in handsome drooping spikes. Another Indian annual, A. hypochondriacus (prince's feather), has deeply-veined lance-shaped leaves, purple on the under face, and deep crimson flowers densely packed on erect spikes.
Amaranths are recorded as food plants for some Lepidoptera species including The Nutmeg.
Other related archives1970s, Americas, Andes, Artemis, Asia, Aztecs, Catholic, Celosia, Christian, Diablerie, Don DeLillo, E.E.C., Enya, Euboea, Europe, Greece, Greek, Hanyu Pinyin, Himalaya, Huitzilopochtli, Incas, India, Lepidoptera, Mexican Spanish, Mexico, Mexico City, Milton's, North America, Paradise Lost, Simplified Chinese, The Nutmeg, Vampire: The Dark Ages, White Wolf Game Studio, books, calcium, cereals, chocolate, communion, copper, dietary fiber, dietary minerals, flowers, folate, folk etymology, genus, gout, herbs, honey, iron, kidney, leaf vegetables, magnesium, manganese, molasses, nutritional, ornamental plants, oxalic acid, phosphorus, popcorn, potassium, protein, puffed rice, rheumatoid arthritis, riboflavin, role-playing games, vitamin A, vitamin B6, vitamin C, vitamins, zinc
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Cultivation and uses", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki |
