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AgJournal \| Home \| New Crops Vault In Value \| Feature	May 19, 2013

New crops vault in value
Ancient Aztec grain packs a lot of protein

Like corn, grain amaranth is native to the New World. The Aztecs considered both amaranth and corn to be staple crops and planted them in rotation with edible beans. In contrast to the dominance of corn in the United States and around the world, however, there is only a small amount of amaranth grown throughout the world.

Amaranth is an annual broadleaf plant related to the pigweeds. Unlike its wild relatives, however, domesticated amaranth is not a troublesome weed. In fact, stand establishment may be the biggest challenge for the farmer raising amaranth. However, it is sensitive to herbicides that control pigweeds which means most commercial herbicides. Because of this, grain amaranth is a "natural" for organic farmers who use a row-crop cultivator to control weeds. The main market for amaranth in the United States is health-conscious consumers who are willing to pay a premium for highly nutritious, chemical-free grain products. Also, because it is not a cereal grain, amaranth grain is suitable for people with allergies to cereals.

The grain from amaranth can be milled or popped like popcorn. Amaranth grain may be used in:

Breads, pastries and crackers

Confections bound with sorghum, molasses or honey

Granola and granola bars

Cheese spreads

Salad dressings

Breading for chicken and fish

Pie crusts

Toppings for casseroles and desserts

The protein content of amaranth grain is higher than that of cereal grains, and it has a high lysine content as well. Other parts of the plant are very nutritious as well and there are "vegetable" type amaranth varieties grown for leaves to be used in soups and salads.

Interest In Amaranth Reviving

Production of amaranth went into a decline after the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs. The reasons are unclear, according to Charles Kauffman and Leon Weber of the Rodale Research Center, Kutztown, PA. It may have resulted from the Spanish effort to crush Aztec culture, but then, corn was part of Aztec culture, too. "The small seed size of amaranth may have been a partial cause for the reduction in amaranth cultivation," said Kauffman and Weber. "A small-seeded crop requires greater attention to detail in the early parts of the growing season than does a larger-seeded crop, such as maize (corn)."

After reaching a low point by the middle of the 20th Century, interest in amaranth has been increasing around the world over the past 15 to 20 years.

Western Nebraska has become the most concentrated area of amaranth production in the United States. University of Nebraska specialists caution that domestic demand currently requires production from only 3,000 acres annually. Contract production is the only way to ensure access to the market and, although demand for amaranth is growing, most buyers are increasing contract acreage with established producers rather than increasing the number of individual contracts. To profit from amaranth production, growers must be more aggressive marketers than with more conventional crops.

Because of its high protein and energy content, and because it can be grown in a wide range of environments, from arid-temperate to humid-tropical, grain amaranth holds promise as an economical source of food for growing populations in developing countries. G. Kelly O'Brien and Martin Price of the Educational Concerns for Hunger Organization (ECHO), a non-profit, Christian organization dedicated to the fight against world hunger, noted that the protein complement of amaranth grain is very near to the levels recommended by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization. Amaranth also contains large amounts of vitamin C, carotene, calcium and folic acid.

For more information on amaranth, check Grain Amaranth by Kauffman and Weber,
Grain Amaranth Production in Nebraska , or ECHO Technical Notes .

One source of amaranth seed is the Albert Lea Seed House .