Amaranth tailed is very widespread on all continents. This plant has gone through periods of sharp take-off and prolonged oblivion. Amaranth tailed has been known for more than 8 thousand years and in ancient times among tribes such as the Incas and the Aztecs was a popular grain crop and was in second place after corn.
In those days, there was a special cult for growing amaranth, which included even the sacrifice of human lives. It was because of the ritual that was carried out during its cultivation that the Spanish conquerors forbade the cultivation of tailed amaranth. Its cultivation was carried out only in remote areas, in the mountains of the Andes and Mexico. It is also very popular in the mountains of Nepal and India.
The ancient Greeks valued tailed amaranth as a symbol of immortality, this was due to the fact that the inflorescences of this plant never fade.
Amaranth was introduced to Europe only in the 16th century. and quickly gained popularity. In our regions, this plant is considered a malicious weed and is known as shiritsa, it is used as animal feed. Pigs, which are grown on this plant, gain weight very quickly and they get a delicious fat with layers of meat.
In the 30s of the last century, serious experiments were conducted in the USSR on growing amaranth and achieved significant results, but the project manager died in the war and all research ceased. After the war, intensive cultivation of corn began and amaranth in our country was forgotten for a long time. Recently, amaranth is gaining popularity again, especially among gardeners, but serious work at the country level has not yet been carried out with this plant and it is not massively cultivated.
Amaranth has many types, and all of them are divided into fodder, vegetable, cereal and decorative. Despite the variety of species, all of them have a high content of protein, starch, oil, and vitamins. Most protein is found in leaves and seeds. Amaranth is very rich in lysine, which is very valuable for the human body. In this plant it is more than in such common cereals as corn, rice, wheat. Amaranth has great prospects, many scientists consider it a "pantry of protein." Abroad sold meat of animals that were fed this plant, but the price of such meat is much more expensive than usual.
This plant is widely used for medical purposes. It has diuretic, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial and other healing properties. Due to the presence of vitamin C, E in amaranth, as well as rutin, amaranthine, it is a good antioxidant.
Amaranth tricolor is a vegetable species, it has bushes in the form of a pyramid. This plant is used in the preparation of various salads, soups, tortillas. It grows very quickly and already 50 days after planting, greens can be eaten. In terms of taste, it somewhat resembles the taste of spinach. Many peoples of Africa boil amaranth leaves in salt water, and then season with oil and eat. It tastes like a dish reminiscent of our boiled beets.
We use more decorative varieties of amaranth. If you have planted tri-color amaranth in your garden, the illumination will be unsurpassed, as it has bright leaves and inflorescences of a wide variety of colors. Amaranth blooms very abundantly and forms a huge number of seeds. They make porridge, which to their taste resembles porridge from sago. Since the plant contains a lot of oil, it is not necessary to add it additionally during the preparation of porridge. In developed countries, baby food and a variety of diet foods are made from this plant.
Amaranth seeds also serve for the production of amaranth oil, which is better in healing properties than sea buckthorn. It has a very pleasant smell and tastes like a nut. Amaranth oil has a lot of squalene, it is it that enhances immunity.