Amaranth

A pseudocereal grown for its edible seeds, principally the species Amaranthus cruentus and Amaranthus hypochondriacus, domesticated in Mesoamerica thousands of years ago. Grain amaranth held major ceremonial and religious significance in Aztec society, where it was used in ritual foods and figures, and Spanish colonial authorities suppressed its cultivation after the conquest of Mexico precisely because of these religious associations, a documented case of a staple crop's decline driven by deliberate colonial policy rather than agricultural failure. Amaranth cultivation persisted at a much smaller scale in parts of Mexico and the Andes and has seen renewed cultivation in recent decades as interest has grown in nutrient-dense traditional grains.