Yesterday was a milestone day. Not because it was tax day (although I did drink a cup of tea in honor of the sitting president) but because Kim finished developing the last recipe in our cookbook. It was an amaranth cookie, made with amaranth flour and ground hazelnuts, cut out in bee shapes, baked and then brushed with honey syrup. The cookie cutters were old ones from Isabel’s kindergarden days. The syrup was infused with honey, cardamom pods, orange peel, and orange-flower water. The inspiration came from the Aztecs, who built their empire on amaranth and who lost it when Cortez purposefully burned the amaranth down–and with it the empire. The Aztecs made little cakes with amaranth flour and honey and formed them in the shapes of figures, deities, animals. Thus bees, which are an agent of transformation in many cultures (see Sylvia Plath, etc.). Amaranth has made a comeback–hopefully the same will be true of our bees (to see Russ Parsons’ recent LAT story on Colony Collapse Disorder, click here).
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
i like your blog very much. it is so informative and poetic and it deals with the most important, sensual subject in the world : food. so thank you. and i didn’t know this about the aztecs.
and this is the the first time i see your handwriting. its kind of shocking to see in this day and age when penmanship is hidden. i feel like i’ve spied something private.
im so glad you have your poems on the blog now. so the grammar of nails is now a collectors item! i knew it.
i miss you and your smile and tattoos and clogs and spicy fish tacos. you are the coolest best poetry teacher in the world.
basically you rock.
These amaranth cookies are amazing, I can attest to that (ate 8 of them). How much longer do we have to wait to get the recipe?
-diane
Wow wow love it, post colonial cookies