Amaranth

A pseudocereal

Like quinoa and buckwheat, amaranth is a pseudocereal — a non-grass seed that’s used like a grain. Grasses (wheat, rice, corn) dominate global cereal production; pseudocereals are a tiny but increasingly popular category in gluten-free baking and traditional cuisines.

A complete protein

Amaranth is one of the few plant foods that contains all nine essential amino acids in roughly the right proportions — uncommon among non-animal sources, alongside quinoa, soy, and buckwheat. It’s also unusually high in lysine, which is the limiting amino acid in most other grains.

Sacred crop, banned crop

Amaranth was a staple of the Aztec Empire, central to their diet and used in ritual cakes (tzoalli) made of amaranth, honey, and human blood. The Spanish, after the conquest in 1519, banned amaranth cultivation specifically because of its religious associations — driving it from a major crop to a relict crop preserved only by isolated rural communities.

It survived, especially in the Andean highlands and Mexican villages, and is now staging a quiet comeback driven by its nutritional profile and gluten-free status.

How it’s eaten

• Popped — heated in a dry pan, the seeds pop like miniature popcorn (Mexican alegría candy).
• Porridge — simmered in liquid for 20 minutes; sticky and gooey.
• Flour — gluten-free, used in tortillas and flatbreads.
• Greens — the leaves of the same plant are also edible, used in Caribbean callaloo and Indian cholai.