Spring 2021: Grain

Forgotten Superfood of the Americas THE AMARANTH SEED IS A GRAIN OF HOPE By Ungelbah Dávila-Shivers

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Amaranth harvest in Guatemala. Each year some of these seeds make their way to New Mexico as part of The Garden's Edge's Seed Travels cultural exchanges. Photo by JC Lemus.

It's Beata Tsosie-Peña's belief that amaranth is the fourth sister to corn, beans, and squash, a sister that became forgotten somewhere along the way because it grows naturally among crops, popping up anywhere ground is disturbed.

edible New Mexico | SPRING 2021

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Spring 2021: Grain

Published on Mar 1, 2021

edible New Mexico

This issue of edible goes back to the basics. We examine the work of those across the state (and beyond) who are reintroducing, rethinking, and reclaiming the very staple ingredients that we depend on for our survival. From Taos, where a baker is making loaves with heritage grains like White Sonora wheat, introduced to the Southwest more than three centuries ago, to Albuquerque, where a distiller is using blue corn to elevate corn whiskey, to the century-old Valencia Flour Mill in Jarales, we talk with New Mexicans who are building markets for local grains. We also explore regional efforts to revive the cultivation of cereal grains, profiling organizations and farmers trialing diverse grain crops in the Navajo Nation and New Mexico. Ungelbah Dávila-Shivers looks beyond cereal grains as she examines efforts across New Mexico to grow amaranth, a hardy and nutritious native plant with deep cultural roots for Indigenous communities in our region and elsewhere.

Articles inside

FORTIFYING THE GRAIN CHAIN

4min

pages 16-18

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