Why Exactly Is Quinoa So Special?

Why exactly is
QUINOA SO SPECIAL?
The Incas cultivated and ate quinoa as a staple food and gave it a sacred status, calling it the “mother grain.”

Marketed as a “whole food,” quinoa is increasingly While nutritionally quinoa is considered a

popular, with all the hallmarks of a “superfood”: whole grain, it isn’t a true grain because it is
it is gluten-free, is nutritious, and, originating not the seed of a grass plant; rather, quinoa
from South America, has a long, fascinating NUTRIENT FEAST is related to beets and spinach, so
history. Sidelined by wheat and other crops, it is called a “pseudograin.” Quinoa also
H IG H IN P R OT E IN , Q U IN OA
quinoa is, however, a “superfood” that might B OA S T S A L L N IN E
looks different from other grains, sporting
live up to the hype, being extremely high in E S S E N T IA L A M IN O A C ID S , wormlike strings when cooked (see below).
protein and full of nutrients (see box, right). O M E G A FAT S , B V ITA M IN S ,
About the same size as mustard seeds, the A N D M IN E R A L S .
most popular variety, “white” quinoa, looks
like couscous and can be cooked in the same way as “Similar in appearance
rice (see pp130–131), producing a fluffy grain. It can also
be popped like popcorn if you dry roast it, turning it into a
to couscous, quinoa is cooked
crunchy topping for soups and breakfast cereals. in the same way as rice.”

UNCO O K ED COOKED

Other grains
In most grains, such as
pearl barley and millet,
the germ, which contains The germ, The germ may
many of the nutrients, is the part that split open after
buried inside the starchy sprouts into a new cooking but the A BITTER BITE
core. Whole-grain foods plant, is housed germ remains
preserve the germ, but inside the grain. inside. Q U IN OA IS RI N SE D O F
in refined grains this is IT S N AT U R A L COAT O F
often removed through PA R A S IT E - R E PE L L I N G
milling (see p136). B I T TER SAPONINS.

Quinoa
This differs in appearance
from other grains because
the protein- and A QUICK DISH
mineral- rich embryo When cooked, the
part of the seed (the The quinoa germ separates, Q U IN OA IS A FA ST-
germ) is coiled germ is on indicating that C O O K IN G S TA PL E TO
around the outside the edge of the grain is R U S T L E U P, CO O KI N G I N
rather than buried the grain. cooked through. J U S T 1 5 – 2 0 M I N U TE S.
in the core.