Description

Amaranth is a green leafy vegetable grown all over India, it comes from the Amaranthus genus, and is a flowering plant in the family of Amaranthaceae. There are several amaranth spices that are edible and are grown all over the world, few spices are love-lies-bleeding, princes feather, josephs coat. Amaranth is generally short-lived thick and erect stem with green leaves. The leaves are basically consumed by detaching them from the stem and washing them thoroughly and chopping them finely, thereby using them in various cuisine. Amaranth plants generally reach up to 2 meters in height and have fleshy oval-shaped leaves that at times are pointed at the tip. While there are some varieties that have a deep maroon center of the leaf with steaks of green, red and purple. The red one produces a feathery purple, magenta or red flowers from the central stalk, which is embedded with edible seeds. The young leaves are mildly astringent, when raw, but draw a very similar mild nutty flavour as that of the spinach, while the mature ones are similar to that of a chard or beet green.  It has a life span of one year, and its major flowering season is from summer to autumn. Moreover, having been a native to Central and South America, it is also cultivated in a warm environment. Its every existence records back to the prehistoric era, it was also used in Mesoamerica in ritual drinks and food. And was put on high regard by the Aztecs, who mad statute of god with the amaranth, all this took place before the Spanish conquest. On having such wide footings all across the globe, it is also brought into the play in the very culinary world.

Health benefits

• Iron is significantly required for producing red blood cell and cellular metabolism, hence amaranth leaves are said to be a great source of iron and minimizes the very chance of iron deficiency, which leads to anemia, ie loss of blood.⁽¹⁾
• Amaranth leaves are also rich in vitamin K, hence helps to fight off conditions like osteoporosis, in which the bone becomes weak and brittle.⁽¹⁾
• Fresh amaranth leaves are said to be a rich source of vitamin C, which supposedly is a powerful water-soluble antioxidant that potentially plays a significant role in healing wounds and warding off viral infections.⁽²⁾ 
• Amaranth leaves happen to carry more potassium than that in the spinach, where potassium is a crucial component of the cell and body fluids that helps regulate blood pressure and heart rate.⁽²⁾

Selection Guide

Always go for bunches that have crisp, green leaves with no blemishes or browning marks.