In today’s economy with wheat and rice running high in price and short on availability, the focus may need to shift to some ‘lesser known’ staples from history and around the world. Supply and demandd can help widen our grain pallet.

In the Himalayas, Amaranth grain is a crop of moderate importance . It was one of the staple foodstuffs of the Inca civilization, and it is known today in the Andes as kiwicha.

It was also used by the ancient Aztecs, who called it huautli. Other Amerindian peoples in Mexico used Amaranth to prepare ritual drinks and foods.

Amaranth was used in several Aztec observances, where images of their gods (notably Huitzilopochtli) were made out of amaranth grain mixed with honey. The images were cut with the pieces to be eaten by the people. To the Roman Catholic priests who witnessed the ritual, this looked like the Christian Eucharist, thus the cultivation of Amaranth grain was forbidden for centuries.

Amaranth grain (especially A. cruentis and A. hypochondriaca) was revived in the 1970s largely due to its importance as a symbol of an indigenous culture, and because it is very palatable, easy to cook, and its protein is particularly well suited to human nutrition needs. Amaranth and Quinoa are the only two grain that contain complete protein. Besides Protein, Amaranth grain provides a good source of Dietary fiber and Dietary mineral such as Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Copper, and especially Manganese.
After cultivation having been forbidden, it was recovered in Mexico from wild varieties and is now commercially cultivated.

Amaranth’s use has spread to Europe and other parts of North America. It is a popular snack sold in Mexico City and other parts of Mexico, sometimes mixed with Chocolate or Puffed grain. To this day, amaranth grains are toasted much like Popcorn and mixed with Honey or Molasses to make a treat called alegría (literally “joy” in Spanish).

Although this is a truthfully delicious and nutritious grain, more than half of the barley grown in the US is used only for beer. Most of what remains is used for livestock.

Finding whole organic barley outside of health food stores takes a little bit of effort. Often most “whole” versions will still be missing the hull, so shop wisely. Organic “hulled barley” (meaning the hull [outer protective ‘shell’] is still on) has far more fiber and minerals than pearled barley which has been stripped of the germ and the bran and polished up to six times to give it a smooth surface. Pearled barley is often what is found in vegetable and beef soups.

Hulled barley should be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container or kept away from light, heat, and moisture. If kept in this manner it will stay fresh for up to several months or longer. Since most all of the oils which could go rancid have already been removed, pearled barley can be kept at room temperature for a much longer period of time.

Substitute hulled barley for any recipe where you see pearled barley, but keep in mind that it will take approximately two hours to cook, much longer than the 45 minutes recommended for pearled. You can start by pre-cooking the hulled barley well before it’s needed in the recipe. You can also serve it cooked alone with some simple seasoning as a side dish or in grain salads as you would wheat kernels.

Barley grain is versatile and used worldwide for more than just soup or fermenting beverages. Give it a try in a tasty corn-bread like batter bread or as an addition to your other grains in loaf bread.

Don’t let the word ‘wheat’ in it’s name confuse you. Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) looks like a grain and tastes like a grain but isn’t a grain at all. Buckwheat is thought of as a cereal, but is actually an herb of the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae, a relative of the rhubarb. Buckwheat is also gluten free, which makes it an ideal food for those allergic or sensitive to the gluten in found wheat and other true grains. After being removed from the husk, the triangular seeds are used to make flour.

Buckwheat has been eaten for hundreds of years in the Far East. Buckwheat can also be used for a variety of baked products, including pancakes, breads, muffins, crackers, bagels, cookies, and tortillas , pasta, bread and Japanese soba noodles. The de-hulled seeds (groats) can be ground into grits and roasted to make kasha, served as a starchy side dish by people of a variety of ethnic backgrounds, especially Russians and eastern Europeans.

One pound of raw buckwheat has 1,520 calories. Nutritionally, buckwheat provides vitamins B1 and B2, the minerals potassium, magnesium, phosphate and iron (buckwheat contains more iron than cereal grains), and it has nearly twice the amount of the amino acid lysine found in rice. Buckwheat bran (farinetta) contains rutin, a flavonoid known to reduce cholesterol, lower blood pressure and maintain the strength and flexibility of capillaries. A recently discovered compound in buckwheat called fagopyritol may have potential to help manage type II diabetes.