Although new to North Americans, here is a grain that has been cultivated in the highest continuously-farmed region of the Earth, the South American Andes, since at least 3,000 B.C.. The ancient Incas called it "the mother grain" and revered it as sacred. Compared to other grains and vegetables, it is high in protein, calcium and iron. One researcher has said that "while no single food can supply all of the essential life-sustaining nutrients, this comes as close as any other in the vegetable or animal kingdoms."
This amazing ancient food now in the process of being rediscovered by modern eaters is QUINOA. In South America, a renewed respect for indigenous crops and traditional food has reversed a 400-year decline in quinoa production that began with the Spanish conquest. And within the past three years quinoa has begun to be grown for the first time outside South America.
Quinoa is a small seed that in size, shape and colour looks like a cross between sesame seed and millet. It is disk-shaped with a flattened or depressed equatorial band around its periphery. It is usually a pale yellow colour but some species may vary from almost white through pink, orange or red to purple and black.
Quinoa is not a true cereal grain but is technically a fruit of the Chenopodium family. Chenopodium plants have characteristic leaves shaped like a goose foot. Quinoa is an annual herb that grows from three to six feet high, and like millet its seed are in large clusters at the end of the stalk. The seeds are covered with saponin, a resin-like substance that is extremely bitter and forms a soapy solution in water. To be edible, the saponin must be removed. Traditionally, saponin has been removed by laboriously hand scrubbing the quinoa in alkaline water.
The edible seed of the quinoa plant has been called both a pseudo-cereal and a pseudo-oilseed because of its unique nutritional profile. It is high in protein compared to other grains, although it is also high in oil and fat. Some wheats come close to matching quinoa's protein content, but cereals such as barley, corn, and rice generally have less than half the protein of quinoa. Also, quinoa has a good balance of the amino acids that make up the protein. Quinoa, like soy-beans, is exceptionally high in lysine, an amino acid not overly abundant in the vegetable kingdom. Quinoa is also a good complement for legumes, which are often low in methionine and cystine. In addition, quinoa is a relatively good source of phosphorous, calcium, iron, Vitamin E and several of the B vitamins.
Of equal importance as quinoa's nutritional benefits is the hardiness of this plant. Its ability to grow in high, often cold altitudes ensured that corn and most other crops could not compete with it. Unlike most other food crops, quinoa thrives with low rainfall; high altitudes (and therefore high radiation levels); thin, cold air; hot sun; subfreezing temperatures and even poor, sandy, alkaline soil. It is this ability to thrive where few other food crops can that has allowed quinoa to remain the staple of millions of descendants of the Inca Empire.
When Pizarro and his army marched into Inca teritory in 1532, they discovered a well organized and even sophisticated food and agricultural system supporting the Incas. With the advent of the Spaniard's rule, and the subsequent repression of many aspects of native South American culture, quinoa production went into a tailspin from which it has only recently begun to recover. Like Amarnth, the ceremonial grain of the Aztecs which today is also becoming popular again, quinoa may have been actively suppressed as a means of disrupting and dispiriting the Incas. Today, the Aymara and Quechua Indians who live in the high mountainous regions of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, southern Colombia, northern Argentina and Chile grow most of the world's quinoa.
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// -- - -- - -- -- -- - -- -- -- - -- -- -- - -- - -- \\
// Approximate Average Nutritional Values \\
|| for WHEAT and QUINOA ||
\\ //
|| Water 13.2% 12.6% ||
// Protein 11.5% 13.8% \\
|| Total lipid (fat) 2.0% 5.0% ||
\\ Crude fibre 2.1% 4.1% //
|| Ash 1.8% 3.4% ||
// Total Carbohydrates 59.4% 59.7% \\
|| Food Energy (Calories per 100g) 309 350 ||
\\ //
|| Minerals (mg per 100g) ||
// Calcium 43.7 66.6 \\
|| Phosphorus 406.0 408.3 ||
\\ Magnesium 147.0 204.2 //
|| Potassium 502.0 1040.0 ||
// Iron 3.3 10.9 \\
|| Manganese 3.4 2.2 ||
\\ Zinc 4.1 7.5 //
|| ||
// Vitamins (mg per 100g) \\
|| Thiamin 0.48 0.19 ||
\\ Niacin 5.10 0.59 //
|| Tocopherol 4.30 5.20 ||
\\ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ //
\\. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . //
The story of quinoa's introduction into the United States of America is a fascinating one.
The Quinoa Corporation's story starts in 1976 when Steve Gorad, who has a doctorate in psychology, and Don McKinley, a friend who was there working for a shoe company, were in Boston studying with the Bolivian founder of Arica, Oscar Ichazo, who mentioned quinoa in his teachings as "a very nutritious food which is good to eat when doing mystical work."
The next year found Gorad in La Paz, Bolivia, where he promptly purchased quinoa and tried it. "I put it in an open pot and as I watched it cook, I fell in love with quinoa," he said.
After his first pot of quinoa, Gorad started contacting South American scientists and quinoa growers. In 1978 he brought back fifty pounds of quinoa to the U.S. and took it around to all his friends, including Don McKinley. "I cooked it, served it to them, and asked, 'Do you like it?' The response was one hundred percent 'Yes!'". Gorad and McKinley wanted to market quinoa in the U.S., but the problems of availability stopped them. To gather grain by going from one remote Indian settlement to another was impossible. There was at that time no commercial or political support for developing quinoa. The project went on the back burner again.
In 1982 Gorad was living in Chile, married to a Chilean woman, and teaching and writing about holistic health. He received a letter from Don McKinley asking for quinoa seed. Since his Boston Arica days, McKinley was always thinking about quinoa: "How could we market it in the States? One day the obvious occurred to me - let's grow it in Colorado!" He wrote to Steve and asked him for the seed quinoa. He than contacted David Cusack.
Cusack brough a wealth of knowledge and experience to the enterprise. He had grown up on a high altitude potato farm in central Colorado, and had lived, taught and worked on development projects in the Andean countries since 1968. He had a doctorate in international development and a master's degree in agriculture and environmental management. He had also founded Sierra Blanca Associates, a research group that sought to spread practical applications of science and technology across cultures. McKinley told him of there project and he immediately got involved. They located a San Lusis Valley farmer at an 8,000 foot elevation in arid central Colorado who was willing to plant a five-acre test field.
Gorad put out the word that he wanted the seed quinoa. The limited supply in local markets often had its saponin washed off and therefore would not germinate. Weeks went by and no-one responded. Then one day a Chilean friend knocked on his door with fifteen pounds of beautiful pink, yellow and red seed. He was a simple man and did not think it proper to accept money for the seed, so Gorad gave him his shirt that he was wearing.
Quinoa has now grown in Colorado for ten summers and it's still working well.
Alfalf's, a natural food store, did some tests with quinoa. They served prepared quinoa, quinoa cookies and quinoa pudding at a demonstration kiosk. The response was overwhelmingly. But two days after Alfalf's demonstration the local paper reported David Cusack's murder! He was the victim of a robbery attempt near La Paz, Bolivia.
Cusack had been instrumental in the revival of quinoa. His death was a severe blow to all who knew him as well as a setback for continued quinoa experimentaion and production in both North and South America. The Quinoa Corporation thought that was the end of them and that they would close down. But, strange as it sounds, they were strengthened by it.
Quinoa is prepared whole, like rice, or made into flour for bread and biscuits; its leaves are eaten as a vegetable or used for animal fodder; the stalks are burned for fuel and the saponin-filled wash-water is used as a shampoo.
Ready to cook, quinoa is usually pale yellow. Use 2 cups water to 1 cup Quinoa. Rinse Quinoa thoroughly, either by using a strainer or by running fresh water over the Quinoa in a pot for 3 minutes, and drain well. Place Quinoa, seasonings and water in a saucepan. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Cover and simmer for 7-10 minutes.The disk shaped seed has a band about its periphery; as the grain cooks, this band partially separates from the seed but retains its curved shape. You will know that the Quinoa is done when all the grains have turned from white to transparent and the spiral-like germ has separated. In appearance cooked quinoa looks like cooked couscous sprinkled with little spirals or crescent moons. The grain itself seems to melt in your mouth, but the tiny bands offer just enough tooth resistance to create a minute crunch, affording a varied and pleasant sensation. Eating quinoa is an experience to be savoured, and one that deserves more fans!
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