By Marsha Laux, content specialist, AgMRC, Iowa State University, mlaux@iastate.edu.

Reviewed March 2010 by Malinda Geisler, content specialist, AgMRC, Iowa State University.


Overview
Quinoa (keen wah), an ancient food, is a member of the Goosefoot family, which includes such plants as sugar beets and spinach. A native of South America, it was cultivated by the Incas prior to 3000 B.C. The Incas, who revered quinoa as sacred, called it the "mother grain." Quinoa is not well known in North America but is slowly gaining in importance.

Quinoa is not a grain but a seed, and it is ground into flour for food use and substituted for grains, especially by those with gluten sensitivity. A pseudocereal, quinoa (like amaranth and buckwheat) is actually a broadleaf plant rather than a grass and is a close relative of lamb’s quarter.

Production
Quinoa is grown mainly in cool mountainous regions, because air temperatures above 90 to 95 degrees cause sterility of the pollen. Quinoa has been cultivated since the early 1980s and commercially produced since the mid 1980s in the Colorado Rockies, especially in the San Luis Valley. Production has also been attempted in California, New Mexico, Oregon and Washington. The biggest barrier to U.S. production is climate.

As a plant, quinoa grows three to seven feet high and produces a small, flat, circular-shaped seed. It has been considered "one of the world’s most perfect foods." Compared to other cereal grains, it is higher in protein content (14%-18%) and has a nutritionally attractive amino acid balance. The seed is high in lysine, methionine and cystine, making it complementary to both other grains and to legumes, which are deficient in these nutrients. It also has higher levels of energy, calcium, phosphorus, iron, fiber and B vitamins than barley, oats, rice, corn and wheat.

The seeds have a bitter saponin in the outer coat that must be removed before consumption. They can be washed or milled to remove the seed coat, adding to the total cost of the final product. On average, quinoa yields 5.8 percent oil by weight.

Value-added Uses
Quinoa is made into flour for baked goods, breakfast cereals, beer, soups, pastas, desserts and even livestock feed. The seeds can be boiled, added to soups or even fermented. The cooked seeds have a nutlike flavor and remain separate, fluffy and chewy. Quinoa breads and flours are the most popular products and are marketed directly to the consumer over the Internet and through health food stores for their gluten-free, high-protein qualities.

Like spinach, the plant is sometimes grown as a green vegetable, and leaves are eaten fresh or cooked. The leafy plant materials can be used in human consumption or for livestock feed.

Demand
Health food stores, supermarkets and restaurants in the United States now provide quinoa products. Most quinoa consumed in the United States is imported from South America. Current estimates of U.S. production are minimal, at less than 10,000 pounds. According to the Food & Agriculture Organization, world production of quinoa in 2008 was 59,115 metric tons, with half of the production grown in Peru.


Other Links

• Crop Production, Food & Agriculture Organization, United Nations.
• Quinoa, The National Non-Food Crops Centre, York, U.K.
• Quinoa, Alberta Agriculture and Food, Canada, 2007.
• Quinoa, Alternative Field Crops Manual, University of Wisconsin Extension Service, the University of Minnesota Center for Alternative Plant and Animal Products, and the Minnesota Extension Service, 1992 - This publication provides some costs of production and estimates of market prices as well as other production information.
• Quinoa: A Potential New Oil Crop, New Crops, Purdue University, 1993 - Examines the benefits of quinoa as an oil crop, identifying the oil as rich in polyunsaturated fatty acids, a product that should appeal to today’s health conscious consumer.
• Quinoa - Lost Crops of the Incas, National Academy Press, 1989 - This book excerpt provides 13 pages of background, prospective and other information about quinoa.
• Quinoa, lost crop of the Incas, finds new life, New Farm, Rodale Institute, 2003 - This article clearly describes the origin and development of quinoa. It also gives details about quinoa products.
• Quinoa, Mother Grain of the Incas, 1999 - This article gives details of the rise and fall of quinoa in the world, its cultivation details and its nutritional details.
• White Mountain Farm is a certified organic family farm located in the San Luis Valley of the Southern Colorado Rocky Mountains that produces and direct markets organic quinoa and potatoes. The farm was incorporated in 1987 and was the first large-scale quinoa operation in North America.

Profile created May 2004 and updated March 2010.