Don’t you love the predictably of food marketing?
Find a healthy, plentiful and relatively untapped food like Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) and there’s only ever going to be one label for it – ‘super food’.
What exactly qualifies entry into the now bulging super food category is anyone’s guess, so whether quinoa is in fact a super food, a wonder crop or the master grain, is a question we’ll leave for another day.
Instead, we’re going to focus on:
What quinoa is and where it comes from
Why it’s nutritionally beneficial for us
How to create quality quinoa recipes that will taste great, impress your friends and won’t cause you stress in the kitchen.
Then the introductions are over and get onto the main event - how to cook and eat the stuff.
What is quinoa?
Quinoa is a grain like crop that has been eaten the Andean region of Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador in South America for over 5000 years.
Alongside its more commonly known compadres, maize and potatoes, it was an essential part of the Inca diet. So much so, that the Incas believed quinoa was a gift from the Gods and called it ‘the mother grain’.
quinoa recipes
Raw white quinoa seeds
Quinoa seeds are the most commonly eaten part of the plant and come in 3 colours – brown, red and white (more on that later).
They look like cous cous and are cooked in a similar way, by boiling or steaming for between 8-20 minutes, depending on the colour.
You can also eat the leaves, but it’s rare to find them outside the Andes.
A gift from the Gods eh, that’s some recommendation! How does this heavenly gift taste?
If you follow the recipes below, then quinoa is amazing. If you don’t, it’s disgusting.
Joking of course. Quinoa is great to cook with – it has a distinctive light, nutty taste, a fluffy texture and a nice al dente bite to it. Plus it soaks up flavours easily, so it’s great to mix with other foods and dressings.
The white seeds are lighter in flavour and take less time to cook, the brown are nuttier and the black the nuttiest still. The difference in taste between the 3 is quite subtle, but it’s there.
Crudely speaking, quinoa is similar to cous cous, but for me it’s a more flavoursome, tasty and versatile option than the cous cous available in my local stores.
Sounds good, what makes it a healthy choice?
Firstly it’s both high in protein and it’s a complete protein – which is unusual amongst plantfoods. Grains like rice or wheat don’t contain the amino acid lysine, but quinoa does, making it complete.
It’s also high in magnesium, phosphorous, calcium and manganese, very low in sodium and cholesterol and is a complex carbohydrate.
Plus it’s gluten free and usually good for people with food allergies
For full nutritional information, check out this info which comes from the USDA’s National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, so you can trust it (we hope)!
Where can I buy it and do I have to take out a bank load to afford it?
You’ll find it in any decent health food store and also in an increasing number of supermarkets.
It’s not particularly expensive, though does cost a little more than white rice or cous cous.
If it’s so great why don’t more people eat it?
Good question, my guess would be that it’s just not that well known.
It’s never really been cultivated in the U.S., there’s a small amount grown in Canada, but most comes from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. I think as a result it’s never received the marketing attention that other grains or cereals have.
Its popularity is growing and in my experience of cooking it for family and friends, it’s one of those foods that as soon as people try it, they love and start cooking with it.
Those food marketers need to get more creative with their product lines as well as their slogans…
Here’s a great, 30-minute quinoa, kale and spinach salad recipe to get you started on the quinoa trail.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll post a series of delicious, fast and simple-to-make quinoa creations.
And before you know it, you’ll be convinced that quinoa really is God’s gift…
Find a healthy, plentiful and relatively untapped food like Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) and there’s only ever going to be one label for it – ‘super food’.
What exactly qualifies entry into the now bulging super food category is anyone’s guess, so whether quinoa is in fact a super food, a wonder crop or the master grain, is a question we’ll leave for another day.
Instead, we’re going to focus on:
What quinoa is and where it comes from
Why it’s nutritionally beneficial for us
How to create quality quinoa recipes that will taste great, impress your friends and won’t cause you stress in the kitchen.
Then the introductions are over and get onto the main event - how to cook and eat the stuff.
What is quinoa?
Quinoa is a grain like crop that has been eaten the Andean region of Bolivia, Peru and Ecuador in South America for over 5000 years.
Alongside its more commonly known compadres, maize and potatoes, it was an essential part of the Inca diet. So much so, that the Incas believed quinoa was a gift from the Gods and called it ‘the mother grain’.
quinoa recipes
Raw white quinoa seeds
Quinoa seeds are the most commonly eaten part of the plant and come in 3 colours – brown, red and white (more on that later).
They look like cous cous and are cooked in a similar way, by boiling or steaming for between 8-20 minutes, depending on the colour.
You can also eat the leaves, but it’s rare to find them outside the Andes.
A gift from the Gods eh, that’s some recommendation! How does this heavenly gift taste?
If you follow the recipes below, then quinoa is amazing. If you don’t, it’s disgusting.
Joking of course. Quinoa is great to cook with – it has a distinctive light, nutty taste, a fluffy texture and a nice al dente bite to it. Plus it soaks up flavours easily, so it’s great to mix with other foods and dressings.
The white seeds are lighter in flavour and take less time to cook, the brown are nuttier and the black the nuttiest still. The difference in taste between the 3 is quite subtle, but it’s there.
Crudely speaking, quinoa is similar to cous cous, but for me it’s a more flavoursome, tasty and versatile option than the cous cous available in my local stores.
Sounds good, what makes it a healthy choice?
Firstly it’s both high in protein and it’s a complete protein – which is unusual amongst plantfoods. Grains like rice or wheat don’t contain the amino acid lysine, but quinoa does, making it complete.
It’s also high in magnesium, phosphorous, calcium and manganese, very low in sodium and cholesterol and is a complex carbohydrate.
Plus it’s gluten free and usually good for people with food allergies
For full nutritional information, check out this info which comes from the USDA’s National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, so you can trust it (we hope)!
Where can I buy it and do I have to take out a bank load to afford it?
You’ll find it in any decent health food store and also in an increasing number of supermarkets.
It’s not particularly expensive, though does cost a little more than white rice or cous cous.
If it’s so great why don’t more people eat it?
Good question, my guess would be that it’s just not that well known.
It’s never really been cultivated in the U.S., there’s a small amount grown in Canada, but most comes from Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador. I think as a result it’s never received the marketing attention that other grains or cereals have.
Its popularity is growing and in my experience of cooking it for family and friends, it’s one of those foods that as soon as people try it, they love and start cooking with it.
Those food marketers need to get more creative with their product lines as well as their slogans…
Here’s a great, 30-minute quinoa, kale and spinach salad recipe to get you started on the quinoa trail.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll post a series of delicious, fast and simple-to-make quinoa creations.
And before you know it, you’ll be convinced that quinoa really is God’s gift…
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