Amaranth Modern Prospects for an Ancient Crop (1984) / Chapter Skim
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'Introduction'
'Introduction'
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Apparently, this use of amaranth in pagan rituals and human sacrifice shocked the Spanish conquistadors, and with the collapse of Indian cultures following the conquest, amaranth fell into disuse. In the Americas it survived only in small pockets of cultivation in scattered mountain areas of Mexico and the Andes.
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(Drawing courtesy Organization of American States)
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Amaranth, too, could rise to universal prominence. Grain Amaranths Three species of the genus Amaranthus produce large seedheads loaded with edible seeds.
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AMARANTH Amaranth is a broad-leafed plant but it produces an edible, cereal-like grain, as do grasses such as wheat, rice, rye, and barley. (Rodale Press.
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, and other widely consumed cereals. Amaranths began attracting increased research attention in 1972 when Australian plant physiologist John Downton found that the seed also contains protein of unusual quality.
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Amaranth is gaining popularity also in the northwestern plains of India as well as in the hills of southern India under the common names rajgira ("king seed") , ramdana ("seed sent by God")
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. Another virtue is the high amount of lysine and methionine, two nutritionally critical amino acids contained in amaranth protein.
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In the hot, humid regions of Africa, Southeast Asia (especially Malaysia and Indonesia) , southern China, southern India, and the Caribbean, amaranth species such as Amaranthus tricolor, Amaranthus dubius, and Amaranthus cruentus are grown as soup vegetables or for boiled salad greens (potherbs)
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INTRODUCTION Amaranth greens are a popular vegetable, grown throughout much of the tropics. Here in Benin, West Africa, a village woman uses palm leaves and a bowl of water to sprinkle the amaranth bed in her home garden.
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Research has mainly emphasized grain amaranths so far, but in 1967 FAO started vegetable amaranth investigations. The following year it began field experiments in home garden projects in Nigeria and Benin.
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INTRODUCTION 11 Amaranth is a primitive crop that has received little modern research. However, a project in breeding and agronomic research at the Rodale Research Center in Pennsylvania has been remarkably successful at developing amaranth for modern farm conditions.
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University researchers have collected and genetically improved local varieties of Amaranthus caudatus, even to the point of producing fields of uniform, high-yielding plants that can be harvested by machine. In addition, they have perfected a flaked amaranth product with long shelf life, as well as a "cannon" that bursts amaranth seeds into a tasty puffed form.
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But modern experience in the northern Indian plains shows that they have a good chance of adapting successfully and of being quickly accepted by villagers in Third World areas where they are adapted. In the farming of the future, amaranths could find several valuable niches.
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