CALIFORNIA MAY BE NEXT STATE TO RELEGALIZE BANNED PLANT

Once upon a time, one of the most important crops in the Americas was
suppressed because it offended the sensibilities of the local ruling class.

Long before the United States outlawed hemp -- one of agriculture's
earliest and most important crops -- the Spaniards banished the production
of amaranth, the most important food staple of the Aztec Empire.

In a curious piece of history that resonates with today's prohibition of
hemp or cannabis, the conquering Spaniards set about to eliminate the
cultivation of amaranth. They were so successful that the nutritious grain
is only now, more than 400 years later, re-entering the world of
agricultural science.

Amaranth grew wild along the sandy riverbanks and coastal beaches of
pre-Columbian Mexico. Not only were its leaves edible, but the plant's
flowering stalk produced an abundance of small seeds that were highly
valued as a grain and, when ground, as a flour. The Aztecs also made
popcorn from the seeds.

With a taste described as sweet or nutty, amaranth has the distinction --
along with the hempseed -- of containing a large amount of protein, as well
as essential fatty acids that are rare among cereal plants. By one
estimate, amaranth can supply up to 87 percent of a human's nutritional
requirements.