Before Reading
Think about the following questions on your own. Write your answers.
1. What grains or seeds do you eat regularly (at home, in school lunches, or at restaurant?)
2. Have you ever heard of any traditional Indonesian plants or foods that no longer common
today? Why do you think some traditional crops disappear over time?
3. Have you ever heard of a grain called amaranth? if yes, what do you know about it?
Use dictionary to find the definition of each word. Use your own idea to write
each word in a sentence.
Definition Sentence
ancient
staple food
diverse
cultivate
resurgence
peasant
remote
Amaranth: the once and future crop
(part 1)
Jonathan B. Tucker
After four centuries of obscurity, a former Aztec crop
offers modern farmers a promising alternative
Amaranth is an ancient grain. A long time ago, it was a staple food for the Aztecs in
Mexico. They grew a lot of it in Mexico and Central America. But in the 1500s, Spanish
soldiers banned it. They stopped people from growing it because it was used in Aztec
religious ceremonies. Today, scientists are interested in amaranth again. In the last 10
years, they have studied it a lot. Now, farmers in the U.S. are getting ready to grow it
again.
Amaranth comes in diverse forms, but in general it is a broad-leaved, purplish-green
plant. It can grow as tall as a person. On the top of the plant, there is one big flower,
called a seedhead. The flower is red, gold, orange, or purple. It holds many tiny seeds—
about the size of sand. One plant can have 500,000 seeds and can weigh one
kilogram. The seeds are very small and not easy to work with, but they are very healthy.
Also, the plant can grow well in dry weather and in new places.
Most grains we eat such as wheat, rice, and corn, come from grass plants. Amaranth is
not a grass, but it still gives us a lot of seeds. The seeds taste a little like nuts. People
can eat them in cereal or make them into flour for bread. If you heat the seeds, they
pop like tiny popcorn. Amaranth is special because you can also eat the leaves. Young
leaves are soft and full of vitamins like A, C, riboflavin and folic acid. They are good in
salads or cooked like spinach. You can use them in dishes like amaranth quiche.
Although 60 species of genus Amaranthus are native to many parts of the world, most
are weedy, and only about a dozen are grown as crops. The cultivated species
produce either a high leaf yield or a high grain yield. Before the recent resurgence of
interest in the crop, grain amaranth was cultivated on a small scale by peasants in
remote villages of Mexico, Guatemala, Peru, northern India, and Nepal, and vegetable
amaranth was grown in China, Southeast Asia, southern India, West Africa, and the
Caribbean basin.
Today, scientists focus on three kinds of grain amaranth. Two kinds—A. cruentus and A.
hypochondriacus—are from Mexico and Central America. These two grow well in the
U.S. The third one—A. caudatus—grows in the Andes Mountains in South America, but it
does not grow well in the U.S.
Adapted from BioScience, Oxford University Press on behalf of American Institute of Biological Sciences,
May 2025
Reading Comprehension
For each question, choose the correct answer.
Gist 1. What is the passage mainly about?
a. The religious use of amaranth by the Aztecs
b. How amaranth is similar to corn and wheat
c. The history, characteristics, and modern revival of amaranth
d. The nutritonal benefits of amaranth and its comparison with other grains
Main idea 2. What is the main idea of paragraph 2?
a. Amaranth is difficult to harvest.
b. Amarant plants grow tall and produce many seeds.
c. Amaranth flowers are only purple.
d. Amarant grows better in wet climates.
Vocabulary 3. What does the word resurgence in paragraph 4 most likely mean?
a. disappearance
b. spread to other countries
c. return or increase in interest
d. total transformation
Reference 4. In paragraph 2, in the sentence, “It holds many tiny seeds—about the size of sand,”
what does it refer to?
a. the amaranth seed
b. the plant
c. the seedhead
d. the leaf
Paraphrase 5. Which sentence best paraphrase this idea: “Most grain we eat, such as wheat, rice,
and corn, come from grass plants. Amaranth is not a grass, but it still gives us a lot
of seeds”?
a. unlike common grains such as wheat, rice, and corn, amaranth offers less
amount of seeds.
b. Amaranth tastes as good as the other grass plants that produce grains.
c. Unlike typical grain crops that are grasses, amaranth is different kind but
still offers edible seeds.
d. Amaranth is a grass plant that produce seeds in the same way as wheat,
rice, and corn.
Cohesion 6. This sentence “This makes it especially important in areas facing water shortages.”
at the end of which paragraph?
a. paragraph 2
b. paragraph 3
c. paragraph 4
d. paragraph 5
Inference 7. What can be inferred about why scientists are interested in amaranth today?
a. Its ability to grow in dry conditions makes it valuable for future farming.
b. They want to use it for religious practices.
c. It is likely to become a replacement for all grains.
d. It is easier to cook than wheat or rice.
After Reading
Read the passage again. Fill the following table according to aspects required to
compare amaranth and other common grains. Some parts are written for you.
Common grains
Aspects Amaranth
(wheat, rice, corn)
Leaves inedible leaves
Lysine high in lysine
Growing conditions grows well in dry and poor soil
Photosynthesis type most are C3 plants (except corn)
Seed digestibility seeds are digestible when cooked
Processing potential can be made into flour
Nutrional function
Use the passage to complete the timeline below by summarizing the key events
in the history of amaranth.
Time period Amaranth
Ancient times
1500s
Past 10 years
Present
Synthesizing
Think about the following questions on your own. Write your answers.
1. Write five questions you could ask to the author.
2. Read the passage again. What could you improve from the passage? How do you improve it?
Synthesizing
