http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G4AqkUeqv-o
AAamaranth
Dictionary: am·a·ranth (ăm'ə-rănth') pronunciation
1. Any of various annuals of the genus Amaranthus having dense green or reddish clusters of tiny flowers and including several weeds, ornamentals, and food plants. Also called pigweed.
2. An imaginary flower that never fades.
3. A deep reddish purple to dark or grayish, purplish red.
4. A dark red to purple azo dye.
[New Latin Amaranthus, genus name, alteration of Latin amarantus, from Greek amarantos, unfading : a-, not; see a–1 + marainein, to wither.]
An annual plant (seldom perennial) of the genus Amaranthus (family Amaranthaceae), distributed worldwide in warm and humid regions. Amaranths are botanically distinguished by their small chaffy flowers, arranged in dense, green or red, monoecious or dioecious inflorescences, with zero to five perianth segments and two or three styles and stigmata, and by their dry membranous, indehiscent, one-seeded fruit. See also Flower; Fruit.
Physiological, genetic, and nutritional studies have revealed their potential economic value. Of particular interest are high rate of productivity as a rapidly growing summer crop, the large amounts of protein in both seed and leaf with high lysine, the overall high nutritional value, and the water use efficiency for the C4 photosynthetic pathway. Amaranths are important in the culture, diet, and agricultural economy of the people of Mexico, Central and South America, Africa, and northern India. Genetic, ethnobotanical, and agronomic research has been undertaken to develop amaranths as an important food plant in modern agriculture.
Sponsored Links
[AM-ah-ranth] Once considered a simple weed in the United States, this nutritious annual is finally being acknowledged as the nourishing high-protein food it is. Amaranth greens have a delicious, slightly sweet flavor and can be used both in cooking and for salads. The seeds are used as cereal or can be ground into flour for bread. Amaranth seeds and flour can be found in natural food stores, as well as in some Caribbean and Asian markets.
S
amaranth (ăm'ərănth') [Gr.,=unfading], common name for the Amaranthaceae (also commonly known as the pigweed family), a family of herbs, trees, and vines of warm regions, especially in the Americas and Africa. The genus Amaranthus includes several widely distributed species called amaranths that are characterized by a lasting red pigment in the stems and leaves. They have been a poetic symbol of immortality from the time of ancient Greece. Amaranthus also includes such weeds as the green amaranth, A. retroflexus, and various species commonly called tumbleweed and pigweed, as well as several cultivated plants—e.g., love-lies-bleeding, or tassel flower, and Joseph's coat. Other ornamentals in the family are the globe amaranth (genus Gomphrenia), sometimes called bachelor's button, and the cockscomb (Celosia), both originally tropical annuals. They can be preserved dry and are used in everlasting bouquets. Amaranth is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Caryophyllales.
Encyclopedia
A flower that is one of the symbols of immortality. It has been said by occult magicians that a crown made with this flower has supernatural properties and will bring fame and favor to those who wear it. It was also regarded in ancient times as a symbol of immortality and was used to decorate images of gods and tombs. In ancient Greece, the flower was sacred to the goddess Artemis of Ephesus, and the name "amaranth" derives from Amarynthos, a hunter of Artemis and king of Euboea.
There are many species of Amaranth, some with poetic folk names such as "prince's feather" and "love-lies-bleeding."
A traditional food plant in Africa, this vegetable has potential to improve nutrition, boost food security, foster rural development and support sustainable landcare.[5]
Amaranth grain is a crop of moderate importance in the Himalaya. It was one of the staple foodstuffs of the Incas, and it is known as kiwicha in the Andes today. It was also used by the ancient Aztecs, who called it huautli, and other Native America peoples in Mexico to prepare ritual drinks and foods. To this day, amaranth grains are toasted much like popcorn and mixed with honey, molasses or chocolate to make a treat called alegría ("joy" in Spanish).
Amaranth was used in several Aztec ceremonies, where images of their gods (notably Huitzilopochtli) were made with amaranth mixed with honey. The images were cut to be eaten by the people. This looked like the Christian communion to the Roman Catholic priests, so the cultivation of the grain was forbidden for centuries.[citation needed]
Because of its importance as a symbol of indigenous culture, and because it is very palatable, easy to cook, and its protein particularly well suited to human nutritional needs, interest in grain amaranth (especially A. cruentus and A. hypochondriacus) was revived in the 1970s. It was recovered in Mexico from wild varieties and is now commercially cultivated. It is a popular snack sold in Mexico City and other parts of Mexico, sometimes mixed with chocolate or puffed rice, and its use has spread to Europe and parts of North America. Amaranth and quinoa are called pseudograins because of their flavor and cooking similarities to grains. These are dicot plant seeds, and both contain exceptionally complete protein for plant sources. Besides protein, amaranth grain provides a good source of dietary fiber and dietary minerals such as iron, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, and especially manganese. People have also found it beneficial to prevent the premature greying of the hair folicles.
and variations on this transliteration in various dialects). In Vietnam, it is called rau dền and is used to make soup. There are two species popular as edible vegetable in Vietnam: dền đỏ- amaranthus tricolor and dền cơm or dền trắng- amaranthus viridis.
In Greece, Green Amaranth (Amaranthus viridis) is a popular dish and is called vleeta. It's boiled, then served with olive oil and lemon like a salad, usually alongside fried fish. Greeks stop harvesting the (usually wild-grown) plant when it starts to bloom at the end of August.
Dyes
The flowers of the 'Hopi Red Dye' amaranth were used by the Hopi Amerindians as the source of a deep red dye. There is also a synthetic dye that has been named "amaranth" for its similarity in color to the natural amaranth pigments known as betalains. This synthetic dye is also known as Red No. 2 in North America and E123 in the European Union.[13]
Ornamentals
Nutritional value
ower cholesterol via its content of plant stanols and squalene.
As a weed
Anecdotal reports indicate that some people are allergic to amaranth.[citation needed]
Myth, legend and poetry
Amaranth, or Amarant (from the Greek amarantos, unwithering), a name chiefly used in poetry, and applied to Amaranth and other plants which, from not soon fading, typified immortality.
Aesop's Fables (6th century BC) compares the Rose to the Amaranth to illustrate the difference in fleeting and everlasting beauty.
A Rose and an Amaranth blossomed side by side in a garden,
and the Amaranth said to her neighbour,
"How I envy you your beauty and your sweet scent!
No wonder you are such a universal favourite."
But the Rose replied with a shade of sadness in her voice,
"Ah, my dear friend, I bloom but for a time:
my petals soon wither and fall, and then I die.
But your flowers never fade, even if they are cut;
for they are everlasting."
Or in story mode:
An amaranth planted in a garden near a Rose-Tree, thus addressed it: "What a lovely flower is the Rose, a favorite alike with Gods and with men. I envy you your beauty and your perfume." The Rose replied, "I indeed, dear Amaranth, flourish but for a brief season! If no cruel hand pluck me from my stem, yet I must perish by an early doom. But thou art immortal and dost never fade, but bloomest for ever in renewed youth."
Thus, in John Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost (1667), iii. 353:
"Immortal amarant, a flower which once
In paradise, fast by the tree of life,
Began to bloom; but soon for man's offence
To heaven removed, where first it grew, there grows,
And flowers aloft, shading the fount of life,
And where the river of bliss through midst of heaven
Rolls o'er elysian flowers her amber stream:
With these that never fade the spirits elect
Bind their resplendent locks."
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, in Work without Hope (1825), also refers to the herb, likely referencing Milton's earlier work. (ll 7-10 excerpted):
Yet well I ken the banks where Amaranths blow,
Have traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow.
Bloom, O ye Amaranths! bloom for whom ye may,
For me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams, away!
Joachim du Bellay mentioned the herb in his "A Vow To Heavenly Venus," ca. 1500.
We that with like hearts love, we lovers twain,
New wedded in the village by thy fane,
Lady of all chaste love, to thee it is
We bring these amaranths, these white lilies,
A sign, and sacrifice; may Love, we pray,
Like amaranthine flowers, feel no decay;
Like these cool lilies may our loves remain,
Perfect and pure, and know not any stain;
And be our hearts, from this thy holy hour,
Bound each to each, like flower to wedded flower.
The original spelling is amarant; the more common spelling amaranth seems to have come from a folk etymology assuming that the final syllable derives from the Greek word anthos ("flower"), common in botanical names.
In ancient Greece, the amaranth (also called chrysanthemum and helichrysum) was sacred to Ephesian Artemis. It was supposed to have special healing properties, and as a symbol of immortality was used to decorate images of the gods and tombs. In legend, Amarynthus (a form of Amarantus) was a hunter of Artemis and king of Euboea; in a village of Amarynthus, of which he was the eponymous hero, there was a famous temple of Artemis Amarynthia or Amarysia (Strabo x. 448; Pausan. i. 31, p. 5). It was also widely used by the Chinese for its healing chemicals, curing illnesses such as infections, rashes, and migraines. The "Amarantos" is the name of a several-century-old popular Greek folk song:
Look at the amaranth:
on tall mountains it grows,
on the very stones and rocks
and places inaccessible.
