Native Cooking: Amaranth and Chaya

June 22, 2024

Native Kitchen-- Amaranth

Colorful, red and yellow stalks of amaranth create a beautiful scenery throughout the garden parcels at the Mesoamerican Institute for Permaculture (IMAP), contrasting with the blue mountains and lake behind it. Amaranth is a native seed, and IMAP promotes its production in the region.

Amaranth plants on local farmers' parcels

Amaranth is native to Mesoamerica, but in the 16th century during colonization, the Spanish outlawed amaranth in Central America and Mexico. They destroyed the crops and banned further cultivation. They feared that the indigenous people's spiritual connection with amaranth would impede the spread of Catholicism on the continent. However, indigenous Incan and Mayan farmers preserved the seeds. Therefore, throughout Mesoamerican history, amaranth has been a symbol of cultural and political resistance.

One way IMAP continues to preserve this native cultural tradition and right is by purchasing amaranth seeds from local farmers and using it to make a variety of products including-- cookies, granola, cereal, and a local drink called atol.

An employee at IMAP, Andres, is in charge of making the amaranth products. I accompanied him in the kitchen today to see how he makes amaranth cookies.

Making amaranth cookies with Andres

He starts by shaving some panela (unrefined whole sugar cane) and liquifying it into warm water. Then he heats it up on the stovetop until it thickens and bubbles. Next, he adds in the cup of amaranth seeds and quickly mixed them together before the sticky substance hardens. We pass this substance over into a wooden cookie cutter and squish in into the rectangular shapes. Then we lift up the cookie cutter top and the cookies drop off onto a cookie sheet. Then we package them and listo, it's ready. They are crispy and sweet and taste like a sweet granola bar. Panela is a healthier sweetener than refined sugars while amaranth also has many health benefits such as high protein, high in calcium, anti-inflammatory, lowering cholesterol, and aiding digestion.

June 23, 2024

Nutritious Meals- Chaya Burgers

IMAP receives groups, especially student groups, to take courses and learn about permaculture and agroecology in Guatemala. I met a friendly group of students from Santa Cruz, California who are studying their undergraduate degree in Agroecology. Women from the local community, Pachitulul, are the talented cooks at IMAP who prepare meals using locally grown and native ingredients. Today I walked into the kitchen to see a huge pile of greens rinsed in the sink. The cooks, María and Manuela, were preparing tortas de chaya which are burgers or patties made from chaya leaves, local spinach, hierba mora, and a variety of other local leafy greens.

Making tortas de chaya-- chaya burgers!

How to make the chaya burgers-

1. Rinse all of the leafy greens (picked straight from IMAP's gardens and the parcels of local farmers)

2. Boil the leaves. This is important because chaya leaves are toxic when it is raw!

3. Squeeze out all of the excess water from the leaves

4. Add in chopped onion, pepper, herbs, spices

5. Mix in flour (they used amaranth flour)

6. Form the patties (like making tortillas)

7. Cook the patties on the stovetop until they are crispy

Chaya is planted all over the property in IMAP. For example, it is used to make live fences around the garden parcels. There is an abundance of it and it is very nutritious, so it is important to have delicious recipes to make these leaves yummy.

María and the kitchen team also make an amazing salad that I love. I asked them what leaves they used and they listed off 10 different leaves! -- broccoli leaves, amaranth leaves, arugula, mustard leaves, parsley, chives, celery leaves, spinach, basil, and lettuce. The salad is so flavorful and has many different textures. Now I see why!