AMARANTHUS SSP.
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INTRODUCTION:
There have been, and still are, more eloquent doomsday-prophets around than me, religious as well as scientific. Still, the basic message is pretty much the same: That if humanity does not change direction the ocean levels will rise, the climate will change, the soil and water will turn poisonous, and in the end the biosphere will no longer sustain our species. Well, that was the popular melody sung back in the 70's anyhow. I guess the hippies were right because today we are actually seeing it happen. Where as it might seem insane to us, that in older cultures oracles adviced emperors on state affairs after intoxicating themselves with hallucinogenic plants, the insanity of our own culture is far more subtle and devious: As usual, I'm talking about food: If you view the input of physical labour vs. the output in food returned from the soil, and view it as energy units, old school agriculture had a ratio of about 1:1. That is, one man toiling the soil rewarded him with food for the day. Slight variations took forms of percentages: A bad year brought famine and a good year brought abundance. |
A. blitum, A. dubius, and A. tricolor
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Food production of today is very different: Apply this same calculation on modern industrial agriculture, run by machines and fossil fuels, you get an energy ratio of about 10:1. Now that's an energy loss of 900% - 10 labour days equals 1 day worth of food. Apply that to the meat industry it multiplies again: One hundred days of labour equals one day of food. Add transport and even export to that and the ratio gets worse. On average, by today producing and transporting meat, 150 days of labour equals 1 day of food. So basically, the key pillarstones of our civilisation is, that through the mechanisms of money, meat, machines and fossil fuels, 150 units of energy input responds to 1 unit of output. Now, how would you feel to engage in hard physical labour for a year, no days off, in exchange for 10 hamburgers at the end of that year? You wouldn't, you'd be dead!
Well, this is the so called 'progress' of an advanced civilisation, and the only thing keeping it intact is the abuse of finite resources – Which is supposedly how most civilisations prior to ours collapsed.
Well, this is the so called 'progress' of an advanced civilisation, and the only thing keeping it intact is the abuse of finite resources – Which is supposedly how most civilisations prior to ours collapsed.
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A. caudatus, A. cruentus, and A. hypochondriacus
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If it wasn't for machines and fossil fuels to make up for those catastrophic losses we'd all starve, and we are currently running very low on oil. This is beyond insane, yet this is the very world we live in. That said, I'd rather trust an intoxicated oracle guiding a megalomaniac Emperor than the reckless industrial corporations that govern modern society. Should anyone make it through alive from this madness, next civilisations' bards will be writing satirical hymns about the stupidity of the short-lived machine age...
But let's not get all pessimistic about petty numbers... Problems are not around to be grieved upon, but solved: Now, if everybody had access to a small patch of land and filled it with edible weeds and perennials instead of going to the grocery stores, we would easily reverse that depressing ratio from 150:1 to 1:10, have more free time for fun, no one would starve, no more wars over outdated resources, regrow the deserts, everyone would eat healthy, curing cancer and diabetes, as well as saving the biosphere and our own race in the process. Sounds rather jolly, doesn't it!? This is how the Aztecs did it before the Europeans came along and made a mess of things! My thirteenth article introduces the Amaranth: |
QUOTE:
”Be the change you want to see in the world.”
~ Ghandi
AMARANTHUS SSP:
Having the luxury of living in the Mediterranean, we are surrounded by food. It is a mere issue of comfort to buy groceries from the markets. With a little knowledge and research, any small patch of land could be turned into a selfsustaining mini-biotope of edible perennials and reproductive annual plants. A common weed currently popping up amongst the summercrops of your average Mediterranean garden is the Amaranth. There are around 60 known and researched subspecies of Amaranth throughout the world with many different names, but here in Turkey people usually call it 'Sirken' which also includes many other similar looking species. The Amaranth plant has a rich history dating back 8,000 years, when it was first cultivated in Mesoamerica. Somehow we lost this knowledge, because modern farmers tend to view it as a pest. Old school farmers occasionally gather and eat it, but of course preferr their traditional crop treated with traditional pesticide. Well, this little weed of a miracle plant actually used to be staple food in the Aztec world.
MYTHOLOGY & HISTORY:
* The word amaranth comes from the Greek word amaranton, meaning "unwilting" (from the verb marainesthai, meaning "wilt"). The word was applied to amaranth because it did not soon fade and so symbolized immortality. The current spelling, amaranth, seems to have come from folk etymology that assumed the final syllable derived from the Greek word anthos ("flower"), common in botanical names [Wikipedia].
* In the 1500s, Spanish conquistadors attempted to outlaw amaranth in an effort to convert and control the Aztecs, but their efforts proved unsuccessful due to amaranth’s amazing ability to reproduce itself even in the worst of soils, making it impossible to extinguish.
MODERN RESEARCH:
Amaranth is rich in fiber, vitamins A and C, riboflavin, calcium, zinc, copper and manganese. These nutrients have been known to fight and prevent cancer, reduce inflammation, alkalize the body, and strengthen bones [Boutenko, 2013]. It is also gluten free and contains many essential amino acids, including lysine, which is lacking in most other grains.
Amaranth is still cultivated and consumed as a leaf vegetable in many parts of the world, the 4 most common species being: A. cruentus, A. blitum, A. dubius, and A. tricolor. As for grain harvest, these species are preferred: A. caudatus, A. cruentus, and A. hypochondriacus.
Although amaranth was cultivated on a large scale in ancient Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru, nowadays it is only cultivated on a small scale there, along with India, China, Nepal, and other tropical countries. Amaranth has been proposed as an inexpensive native crop that could be cultivated by indigenous people in rural areas for several reasons:
1) It is easily cultivated and harvested.
2) Its seeds are a good source of protein. Compared to other grains, amaranth is unusually rich in the essential amino acid lysine. Common grains such as wheat and corn are comparatively rich in amino acids that amaranth lacks; thus, amaranth and other grains can complement each other.
3) The seeds of Amaranthus species contain about thirty percent more protein than cereals like rice, sorghum and rye. In cooked and edible forms, amaranth is competitive with wheat and oats.
4) It is easy to cook. As befits its weedy life history, amaranth grains grow very rapidly and their large seedheads can weigh up to 1 kilogram and contain a half-million seeds.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
No members of this genus are known to be poisonous, but when grown on nitrogen-rich soils they are known to concentrate nitrates in the leaves. This is especially noticeable on land where chemical fertilizers are used. Nitrates may cause stomach cancers, blue baby syndrome and other other health problems. It is inadvisable to eat the leaves if grown inorganically.
CONCLUSION:
In an article in 'Science', amaranth was described as "the crop of the future”. That was 1977. Today, more than 30 years later people are still starving and modern meat production is conducted through a mindblowing 15,000% energy loss, whilst our most common staple foods are being patented and sterilised. Since our hard working governments are busy with economical crisis, conducting warfare over outdated resources, promoting religious propaganda or racism, it's up to us common folks to face the real problems: And if there ever was a weed to save the world this is it! If everyone would stop eating meat, get a patch of land and some amaranth seeds, we might just save this crappy old civilisation. Now toss me some Nobel prizes and get to it!
”Be the change you want to see in the world.”
~ Ghandi
AMARANTHUS SSP:
Having the luxury of living in the Mediterranean, we are surrounded by food. It is a mere issue of comfort to buy groceries from the markets. With a little knowledge and research, any small patch of land could be turned into a selfsustaining mini-biotope of edible perennials and reproductive annual plants. A common weed currently popping up amongst the summercrops of your average Mediterranean garden is the Amaranth. There are around 60 known and researched subspecies of Amaranth throughout the world with many different names, but here in Turkey people usually call it 'Sirken' which also includes many other similar looking species. The Amaranth plant has a rich history dating back 8,000 years, when it was first cultivated in Mesoamerica. Somehow we lost this knowledge, because modern farmers tend to view it as a pest. Old school farmers occasionally gather and eat it, but of course preferr their traditional crop treated with traditional pesticide. Well, this little weed of a miracle plant actually used to be staple food in the Aztec world.
MYTHOLOGY & HISTORY:
* The word amaranth comes from the Greek word amaranton, meaning "unwilting" (from the verb marainesthai, meaning "wilt"). The word was applied to amaranth because it did not soon fade and so symbolized immortality. The current spelling, amaranth, seems to have come from folk etymology that assumed the final syllable derived from the Greek word anthos ("flower"), common in botanical names [Wikipedia].
* In the 1500s, Spanish conquistadors attempted to outlaw amaranth in an effort to convert and control the Aztecs, but their efforts proved unsuccessful due to amaranth’s amazing ability to reproduce itself even in the worst of soils, making it impossible to extinguish.
MODERN RESEARCH:
Amaranth is rich in fiber, vitamins A and C, riboflavin, calcium, zinc, copper and manganese. These nutrients have been known to fight and prevent cancer, reduce inflammation, alkalize the body, and strengthen bones [Boutenko, 2013]. It is also gluten free and contains many essential amino acids, including lysine, which is lacking in most other grains.
Amaranth is still cultivated and consumed as a leaf vegetable in many parts of the world, the 4 most common species being: A. cruentus, A. blitum, A. dubius, and A. tricolor. As for grain harvest, these species are preferred: A. caudatus, A. cruentus, and A. hypochondriacus.
Although amaranth was cultivated on a large scale in ancient Mexico, Guatemala, and Peru, nowadays it is only cultivated on a small scale there, along with India, China, Nepal, and other tropical countries. Amaranth has been proposed as an inexpensive native crop that could be cultivated by indigenous people in rural areas for several reasons:
1) It is easily cultivated and harvested.
2) Its seeds are a good source of protein. Compared to other grains, amaranth is unusually rich in the essential amino acid lysine. Common grains such as wheat and corn are comparatively rich in amino acids that amaranth lacks; thus, amaranth and other grains can complement each other.
3) The seeds of Amaranthus species contain about thirty percent more protein than cereals like rice, sorghum and rye. In cooked and edible forms, amaranth is competitive with wheat and oats.
4) It is easy to cook. As befits its weedy life history, amaranth grains grow very rapidly and their large seedheads can weigh up to 1 kilogram and contain a half-million seeds.
IMPORTANT NOTE:
No members of this genus are known to be poisonous, but when grown on nitrogen-rich soils they are known to concentrate nitrates in the leaves. This is especially noticeable on land where chemical fertilizers are used. Nitrates may cause stomach cancers, blue baby syndrome and other other health problems. It is inadvisable to eat the leaves if grown inorganically.
CONCLUSION:
In an article in 'Science', amaranth was described as "the crop of the future”. That was 1977. Today, more than 30 years later people are still starving and modern meat production is conducted through a mindblowing 15,000% energy loss, whilst our most common staple foods are being patented and sterilised. Since our hard working governments are busy with economical crisis, conducting warfare over outdated resources, promoting religious propaganda or racism, it's up to us common folks to face the real problems: And if there ever was a weed to save the world this is it! If everyone would stop eating meat, get a patch of land and some amaranth seeds, we might just save this crappy old civilisation. Now toss me some Nobel prizes and get to it!
