Amaranth : Gluten free ‘pseudograin’
The seven types of grain are wheat, corn, rice, oats, rye, buckwheat and barley. You are probably familiar with all of those. But do you know about amaranth?
It is an annual herb that grows 6 to 10 feet in height with pink to red flowers. The seeds are eaten as a cereal grain, hence the name “pseudograin.”
It is a good protein source, particularly high in the amino acid lysine. You can see it at the Indian Valley Campus Organic Farm, where it is grown for seeds, flower bouquets and as a cucumber beetle trap.
Amaranthus, collectively known as amaranth, is a cosmopolitan genus of herbs. Approximately 60 species are recognized, with inflorescences and foliage ranging from purple and red to gold. Members of this genus share many characteristics and uses with members of the closely related genus Celosia. Although several species are often considered weeds, people around the world value amaranths as leaf vegetables, cereals, and ornamentals.
Amaranth seed
Several species are raised for amaranth “grain” in Asia and the Americas. This should more correctly be termed “pseudograin” (see below). Amaranth grain contains no gluten and is safe to consume for individuals with coeliac disease.
Ancient amaranth grains still used to this day include the three species, Amaranthus caudatus, Amaranthus cruentus, and Amaranthus 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; thus, there is potential for further cultivation in those countries, as well as in the U.S. In a 1977 article in Science, amaranth was described as “the crop of the future.” It 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 harvested.
2. It is highly tolerant of arid environments, which are typical of most subtropical and some tropical regions, and
3. 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.
4. The seeds of Amaranthus species contain about thirty percent more protein than cereals like rice, sorghum and rye.[11] In cooked and edible forms, amaranth is competitive with wheat germ and oats – higher in some nutrients, lower in others.
5. 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 in three species of amaranth.
Kiwicha, as amaranth is known today in the Andes, was one of the staple foodstuffs of the Incas. Known to the Aztecs as huautli, it is thought to have represented up to 80% of their caloric consumption before the conquest. Another important use of amaranth throughout Mesoamerica was 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, meaning “joy” in Spanish. Diego Durandescribed the festivities for Huitzilopochtli, a blue hummingbird god. (Real hummingbirds feed on amaranth flowers.) The Aztec month of Panquetzaliztli (7 December to 26 December) was dedicated to Huitzilopochtli. People decorated their homes and trees with paper flags; there were ritual races, processions, dances, songs, prayers, and finally human sacrifices. This was one of the more important Aztec festivals, and the people prepared for the whole month. They fasted or ate very little; a statue of the god was made out of amaranth (huautli) seeds and honey, and at the end of the month, it was cut into small pieces so everybody could eat a little piece of the god. After the Spanish conquest, cultivation of amaranth was outlawed, while some of the festivities were subsumed into the Christmas celebration.
Because of its importance as a symbol of indigenous culture, its gluten-free palatability, easy to cook, and its protein particularly well suited to human nutritional needs, interest in grain amaranth (especially A. cruentus and A. hypochondriacus) 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 flavour and cooking similarities to grains.
Amaranth seed, when properly prepared, may supplement human food. Scientific studies suggest Amaranth grain is a good source of essential amino acid lysine, something other grains are low in. Amaranth is not a complete source of essential amino acids. For example, amaranth is limiting in leucine and threonine – essential amino acids that are abundant in other grains. Amaranth may therefore be a promising supplement to other grains. The assimiability of protein in Amaranth is affected by the anti-nutritional factors present in Amaranth, and how it is processed and cooked prior to human consumption. Wet heat processing reduces toxic factors and improves protein availability from Amaranth, while popping and toasting reduces nutritional value of Amaranth. Besides protein, amaranth grain provides a good complimentary source of dietary fibre and dietary minerals such as iron, magnesium, phosphorus, copper, and manganese.
Amaranth seed flour has been evaluated as an additive to wheat flour by food specialists. To determine palatability, different levels of amaranth grain flour were mixed with the wheat flour and baking ingredients (1% salt, 2.5% fat, 1.5% yeast, 10% sugar and 52–74% water), fermented, moulded, pan-proved and baked. The baked products were evaluated for loaf volume, moisture content, colour, odour, taste and texture. The amaranth containing products were then compared with bread made from 100% wheat flour. The loaf volume decreased by 40% and the moisture content increased from 22 to 42% with increase in amaranth grain flour. The study found that the sensory scores of the taste, odour colour and texture decreased with increasing amounts of amaranth. Generally, above 15% amaranth grain flour, there were significant differences in the evaluated sensory qualities and the high amaranth-containing product was found to be of unacceptable palatability to the population sample that evaluated the baked products.
Cooked amaranth leaves are a good source of vitamin A, vitamin C, and folate; they are also a complementing source of other vitamins such as thiamine, niacin, and riboflavin, plus some dietary minerals including calcium, iron, potassium, zinc, copper, and manganese. Cooked amaranth grains are a complementing source of thiamine, niacin, riboflavin, and folate, and dietary minerals including calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, zinc, copper, and manganese – comparable to common grains such as wheat germ, oats and others.
Amaranth seeds contain lysine, an essential amino acid, limited in other grains or plant sources. Most fruits and vegetables do not contain a complete set of amino acids, and thus different sources of protein must be used. Amaranth too is limited in some essential amino acids, such as leucine and threonine. Amaranth seeds are therefore promising complement to common grains such as wheat germ, oats, corn because these common grains are abundant sources of essential amino acids found to be limited in amaranth.
Amaranth may be a promising source of protein to those who are gluten sensitive, because unlike the protein found in grains such as wheat and rye, its protein does not contain gluten. According to a 2007 report, amaranth compares well in nutrient content with gluten-free vegetarian options such as buckwheat, corn, millet, wild rice, oats and quinoa.
Several studies have shown that like oats, amaranth seed or oil may be of benefit for those with hypertension and cardiovascular disease; regular consumption reduces blood pressure and cholesterol levels, while improving antioxidant status and some immune parameters. While the active ingredient in oats appears to be water-soluble fibre, amaranth appears to lower cholesterol via its content of plant stanols and squalene.
Amaranth remains an active area of scientific research for both human nutritional needs and foraging applications. Over 100 scientific studies suggest a somewhat conflicting picture on possible anti-nutritional and toxic factors in amaranth, more so in some particular strains of amaranth. Lehmann, in a review article, identifies some of these reported anti-nutritional factors in amaranth to be phenolics, saponins, tannins, phytic acid, oxalates, protease inhibitors, nitrates, polyphenols and phytohemagglutinins. Of these, oxalates and nitrates are of more concern when amaranth grain is used in foraging applications. Some studies suggest thermal processing of amaranth, particularly in moist environment, prior to its preparation in food and human consumption may be a promising way to reduce the adverse effects of amaranth’s anti-nutritional and toxic factors.
A one-to-one comparison of cooked amaranth with cooked wild rice and with whole grain wheat flour suggests:
1 the nutrition content of cooked amaranth is higher in some, lower in other essential nutrients in comparison to wild rice.
2 the nutrition content of cooked amaranth is higher in few, lower in most other essential nutrients in comparison to whole grain wheat.
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