[Sca-cooks] Pre-Columbian Foods

[Christine Seelye-King]

According to the Oxford Companion to Food,
amaranth is a large group of plants of which many
provide edible green leaves and some provide, or
formerly provided, grain.  They occur all around
the world, mostly in the tropics.  Many of the
species are primarily used as ornamental plants
in gardens, but the edible ones alone are a
bewildering array, especially in Latin America,
Southeast Asia, and West Africa ...

Huette

Definitely 'continues to provide'.  It is a delightful little seed (not
really a grain, but very close in amino acids to a complete protein).  I had
a big bag and another jar of it on the shelf, waiting for a project.  I
decided to try the Alegria this afternoon.  I learned that if you start with
a moderately hot pan and a quarter cup of grain, you get toasted grain.  A
really hot pan and a few tablespoons of grain at a time and you get popped
amaranth!   It is tasty, smells like popcorn (my house still smells of it),
and incredibly tasty.  I mixed about a cup and a half of toasted amaranth
with some real cinnamon and maybe a half a cup of honey and am letting it
set up, but it is really good.  I'm thinking about molding it into a sort of
gingerbread-man shape, then decorating it to look like a sacrificial
victim... ;)
Amaranth also provides dye colors, and is related to quinoa.
Christianna