Update July 30, 2009: The grain mentioned in paragraph 3 in Vieng village turned out to be sorghum, not grain amaranth. However, I have heard enough anecdotal accounts of amaranth grain use in Laos that I am hopeful we can promote it successfully. I’ve changed references to amaranth below and moved the sorghum pictures to a new album.
Amaranth is a highly nutritious grain that is being promoted by CRWRC in East Africa as a nutritional supplement for children and adults. It has a high-quality protein content, and is high in calcium, iron, lysine, and folic acid. ECHO is also a major resource and promotion center for amaranth. Amaranth originates in Mexico, where it was used by the Maya in religious ceremonies. Cultivation was prohibited by the Spanish priests for this reason, and it mostly disappeared from diets until people began to take interest again in the 70s-now.
Tom Post has been the major promoter of amaranth within CRWRC since the late 90s in partnership with Dick Dugger and Partners Worldwide. They produced a video about amaranth planting, harvesting, cooking, and health benefits. Tom Post gave me some seeds over a year ago to test in Xiengkhouang but since no one had shown any interest yet, I waited.
Hmong people in Laos have traditionally grown amaranth as a vegetable crop: they eat the leaves in soups and stir fries. I had never heard of anyone eating the amaranth grain until this week, when I came across a woman threshing purple grain amaranth sorghum in Vieng village, Kham district, Xiengkhouang province. According to Rick Burnette, this is the first confirmed SE Asia case of grain amaranth that he’s heard of. Here’s a photo album of amaranth in Laos, which I will continue to update with new pictures. It has pictures of purple amaranth that I saw last year in Khanghong, and the grain amaranth threshing in Vieng.
The Hmong woman who was threshing the amaranth sorghum said they ate it steamed and boiled, after having threshed, winnowed, and crushed the seeds. I took the opportunity to share with the small crowd that gathered about the benefits of eating amaranth, especially for children and mothers. I said that children should eat a little bit every day, about 20 grams or 3 spoonfuls. I congratulated the woman for her good practice and encouraged her to continue eating amaranth sorghum. I am excited and encouraged that some Hmong people already use grain amaranth, because that means it won’t be difficult to spread the word about its nutritional benefits and get families to plant it for eating. Continue reading ‘Amaranth Grain in Xiengkhouang, Laos’
