Amaranth

The botanical name of amaranth or amaranth is Amaranhtus is an annual herbaceous plant reaching 3-4 meters in height, with many soft flowers containing seeds, and they are white, red, pink, cream to black color, with a diameter of about 1-1.5 mm.

Each plant produces 40-60,000 seeds. Amaranth likes a warm climate and little water. Central America is considered his homeland.

The plant has been used as food for many centuries by the Aztecs and Incas.

The last Aztec emperor, Montezuma, received a total of about 70,000 hectoliters of amaranth seeds annually as a tax from 20 provinces of his empire.

And the ancient Greeks used the plant as a symbol of immortality.

Most importantly, however, this particular cereal does not contain gluten.

Amaranth is prepared in the same way as pasta products such as macaroni and rice: it is prepared in a lot of water / 6 cups of water are added to 1 cup of starch/, the amount of grains is measured and boiled for 15-20 minutes, strain and consume.

Also, amaranth can be used as a thickener for sauces, dishes, and even for jellies. And the best thing is that stir is much more nutritious than other cereals.

Why is amaranth good for health?

One of the main reasons why amaranth is considered one of the best cereals is that it has an extremely high nutritional value.

Contains a greater amount of minerals such as calcium, iron, phosphorus and carotenoids than most vegetables.

Amaranth is one of the best sources of protein – one bowl of it /about 770 grams/ provides about 28.1 grams of protein compared to 26.3 grams in oats and 13.1 grams in rice.

Whey is an excellent source of lysine, an important amino acid that makes proteins much easier to digest than those in milk.

Amaranth seeds also contain primary proteins albumin and globulins, which, compared to the prolamins in wheat, are much more easily soluble and digestible.

1 cup /246 mg/ of raw amaranth contains 15 milligrams of iron, while white rice provides only 1.5 grams of this mineral. We can get 18 grams of vegetable fiber from 1 cup of bran, while white rice has only 2.4 grams.

From 246 mg. amaranth seeds we can provide 105% of the daily required dose of manganese and relatively few carbohydrates.

Stir contains 4 times more calcium than wheat and more than human breast milk, and is also a very good source of magnesium, phosphorus and potassium.

This so-called pseudo-cereal is a good source of fats about 6-10% of the total content and they are mostly unsaturated.

From 1 cup of amaranth seeds, we can get 77% of the unsaturated fatty acids we need for the day and linoleic acid, which is extremely valuable for proper digestion.

And last but not least, buckwheat is the only cereal with a proven vitamin C content.

Research on amaranth shows that its seeds not only have important nutritional properties, but also phytochemical compounds such as rutin and nicotiflorin and peptides.

And some scientists believe that regular consumption of these seeds is useful for mild hypertension and some forms of cancer.

And in conclusion, amaranth is the richest plant food in proteins and even competes with those of animal origin such as cheese.

The seeds of this plant are an excellent source of energy and have been found to prevent a number of chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, cancer and stroke.