Conrad Hodson wrote:
Richard VanHouten wrote:



Well, amaranth is, indeed, not a grass, and like maize, was raised
in
Mexico for its edible seed. I'm not sure how important it was
pre-Conquest, and since then has (entirely or nearly) gone out of
cultivation. I'm also not sure how similar the weeds I encountered
were
to the variety that was cultivated.

The weeds you pulled were probably the wild stock the Amerindian
plant breeders
upgraded. Even they have quite a good seed yield. Amaranth is
unusual among
crop plants in being equally useful as grain and cooking greens.

I have heard that when sometimes there is a
problem with growing seasons and availability
that some farmers will grow a crop of maize, and
harvest it while it is still green for animal
fodder, and then put in another crop.

Where can amaranth be grown? What type of yeilds
does amaranth have in relation to corn, wheat, rye or
oats, rice, or root crops? How rapidly does it grow
before harvest? Is it slower than most maize or is
it faster than maize and slower than wheat?

It's still in
cultivation quite widely around the world, especially in the tropics
and
subtropics. I've grown it myself, on a garden scale, and you can buy
the seed in
any decent health food store.

It is relatively bad for the world when you consider
that a great amount of the world's grain harvest ends
up being used for animal fodder. This is a very evil
by product of excessive meat consumption beyond the
long term health effects. Meat is a more concentrated
source of protien than most plant derived food is,
but there is a certain level of protien consumption
beyond which that protein is used up for energy
rather than as essential components to build up
body tissues, not to mention the effects of
excessive fat consumption.

Still, it would seem to me that there would be
some incentive to grow it on a wide scale if it
produced a greater yield per acre than wheat or
maize corn, for use as either animal fodder or
as food additives.

The typical grain amaranth has white seeds--this is a recessive gene,
and
apparently was used as a marker by early plant breeders to guarantee
that wild
pollen hadn't contaminated their breeding stock. By culling any dark
seed into
the "food" basket you know you'll have a crop next year that has the
benefits of
all the breeding work. And that work has been going on for a long
time--one
sourcebook I have says that white-seeded amaranth has been found in
Mexican
archaelogical sites that are 7000 year old. If true, this puts
amaranth among
the earliest domestic plants in the New World.

How is amaranth generally planted, cultivated, and
harvested with farm machinery? Does the grain
generally come off with a wheat combine? How about
planting or threshing? Do the lower stalks generally
come off like wheat straw on a combine or is other
equipment needed? Are there any problems with
mechanised planting, cultivating, or harvesting
that are the basic problems with amaranth production?

How about markets? Where could a farmer sell
amaranth if he decided to produce it? Do food
additive or animal feed companies generally not
deal with amaranth? Are there amaranth futures
on any stock exchanges?

Or are there some basic factors like crop yields
or specific requirements for types of soils,
weather conditions, or growing seasons that are
a great down side to trying to grow and use
amaranth en masse?

For a real treat, pop the seeds dry (no oil) in a big wok or deep
kettle (they
jump around a lot, and you must keep them moving with a brush so they
don't
burn.) Blend with two parts peanut butter to one part honey, adding
popped
amaranth until the mix is only slightly moist. Then mold the mix
into balls or
rolls, and roll them in grated coconut.

Conrad Hodson

Crossposted for further data collection.