Saturday, April 11, 2009

Amaranth- Food of the Gods (and Goddesses)

These are the Amaranth babies - starting to harden them off from the green house - I'm amazed at how robust and vigorous their growth has been already. They really like heat, so let's hope for some sunshine!! Here's a traditional drink that you can make with ground Amaranth:

How to make Amarantole: Needed: coffee grinder or grain grinder (or amaranth flour and ground toasted sesame) amaranth grain toasted sesame seed butter honey cinnamon

Lightly toast the amaranth seed and (if needed) the sesame seed. Fill the coffee grinder up to the blades with amaranth seed and grind to flour. Do this a second time, but with a tablespoon of toasted sesame seed added. Add a dash of cinnamon. Whisk the amaranth-sesame flour mix into 2-3 cups of cold water and bring it to a boil. Add a slice of butter. Let it cool a little. Add a dollop of honey, and enjoy a delicious and nutritious hot beverage!

and if you'd like read a bit more about the history and cultural uses of Amaranth, such as how Peruvian women dancers use the red amaranth flowers as rouge, painting their cheeks, then dancing while carrying bundles of amaranth on their backs as they would a baby see this link:

http://www.chetday.com/amaranth.html

1 comment:

  1. I grew one plant last summer which was given to me as an ornamental. I am pretty sure it is edible. I dried the flower head to see if I can get seeds from it? Can you eat the greens? It would be nice to see some pics of your mature harvest.... compare to what I had. We have wild amaranth around where I live and some native people use it to help control their blood sugars. I want to learn more about this.

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