Amaranth Milk

Amaranth was sacred to the Aztecs, who grew this tiny, blushing seed as a staple to rival maize and shaped it into ritual figures bound with honey — a tradition that survives in Mexico's beloved alegría sweets, puffed amaranth pressed into joyful bars. Like its Andean cousin quinoa, amaranth is a pseudocereal and a complete protein, unusually rich in lysine, calcium and iron, and naturally free of gluten. As a milk, nobody's really discovered it yet: no major commercial carton exists, but home cooks blend the cooked seeds into a smooth, faintly earthy drink with a gentle sweetness and a hint of pepper. It's lovely warmed with cinnamon in the spirit of Mexican atole. The milk aisle will catch up eventually; until then, it's all yours.

Emerging — few commercial brands yet