Amaranth: Modern Prospects for an Ancient Crop

Description

Author: Corporate (National Research Council. Advisory Committee on Technology Innovation)

Publisher: National Academy Press

Pub Date: 1984

Binding: Paperback

Condition: Fair to Good.  Binding tight.  No tears, bends or folds.  Previous owner’s name on inside front cover.  Very light edge and corner wear.

Notes: “In pre-Columbian times grain amaranth was one of the basic foods of the New World–nearly as important as corn and beans.  Thousands of hectares of Aztec, Inca, and other farmland were planted to the tall, leafy, reddish plants.  Some 20,000 tons of amaranth grain were sent from 17 provinces to Tenochtitlan (present-day Mexico City) in annual tribute to the Aztec emperor Montezuma…Most of the world now receives the bulk of its calories and protein from a mere 20 species–notably cereals such as wheat, rice, maize, millets, and sorghum; root crops such as potato, sweet potato, and cassava; legumes such as beans, peanuts (groundnuts), and soybeans; and sugarcane, sugar beet, and bananas.  These plants are the main bulwark between mankind and starvation….To diversify the food base, we should not overlook lesser-known indigenous crops, such as amaranth.”   (From the Introduction)