Amaranth is the hot new superfood in town

Fiann Ó Nualláin discusses the hot new superfood in town, Amaranth — an old stalwart of municipal borders    

Before being a staple of municipal planting schemes and gardeners’ borders, Amaranth (Amaranthus cruentus, A. hypochondriacus and A. caudatus etc) aka love-lies-bleeding — was for the ancient Aztec culture, a staple food crop and revered plant.

So important to the region was it, that Cortez under the usual colonisers’ default setting of cultural genocide, decreed a death penalty on anyone growing the crop.