Growing and using quinoa as a meatless protein

As a vegetarian, I would love to learn more about quinoa. How does one prepare it? Can it easily be grown and harvested in SFGs? Please share what you know about this grain (or is it a grain?).

mijejo wrote:As a vegetarian, I would love to learn more about quinoa. Can it easily be grown and harvested in SFGs?

Quinoa contains a balanced set of EAA's for humans, making it a complete protein source (12–18%), unusual among plant foods. It is high in fiber, iron & magnesium. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest.
However,
most of the cultivars are grown between 2,500 m & 4,000 m (13,120 ft) in Bolivia in the Andes near the equator. The seedbed must be well prepared and drained to avoid waterlogging. Quinoa seeds are broadcast over land and raked into the soil. Sometimes it is sown in narrow, shallow soils.
Quinoa in its natural state has a coating of bitter-tasting saponins (Respiratory & eye-irritant) making it unpalatable. Most quinoa sold
commercially in North America has been processed to remove this coating.
Learn other details here: https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Quinoa

As we were saying in the other thread this is commonly called grain. On the box mine even says, "the Supergrain of the Future". It also says more high quality protein than any other grain. Wikipedia's description, if accurate, says it's not a true grain because it is not a true grass. I'm a fan of quinoa because I can be full and satisfied without that sleepyness from a meat meal and I can survive between meals without cheating..it is part of my current diet. But I can't give up meat altogether.

Quinoa is mild tasting, used many ways.
For breakfast, I've put a cooked egg over a bed of quinoa, side of fruit, side of greek yogurt, and I'm not hungry till lunchtime. Ended hunger-headaches for me. Could add anything you want like mushrooms and tomatoes too.

For lunch I've cook it in homemade or store bought low sodium broth for a simple satisfying soup and toss anything else in it too.

For suppertime stuffed peppers, use your other ingred but substitute quinoa for rice. Quinoa pilaf is another one. There is plenty more on the web I bet.

You should find it in the supermarket organic section or else ask them to start carrying it.

I like to toast the quinoa before adding the water, to my palate it makes for a nuttier flavor.

That's sounds really good. Have to try that.

I cook with quinoa pretty much every day.
I sometimes use it with rice and other times use it as an alternative.
I also have been using quinoa flour for making pizza, it is incredible. I do not use it as the only flour, I mix it half and half with something else.
I bought a great book a free years ago, called "Home grown Whole grains, by Sara Pitzer. Goes into how to grow each of the grains as well as how to process them and to cook them
I am hoping next year when my quinoa crop is ready to harvest, to purchase a grain mill so I can make my own flour.

Plant breeders are breeding some that grow well at lower elevations but I have never grown any.

The only problem with grains, or grain-like crops, is that you need a whole heck of a lot to make it worthwhile. That said, sometimes it is fun to grow and just see what it is like. I have a dream of growing enough beans (dried) for a year's use. But it takes a lot of plants to do it. But hey, fun is fun.

Chopper wrote:The only problem with grains, or grain-like crops, is that you need a whole heck of a lot to make it worthwhile. That said, sometimes it is fun to grow and just see what it is like. I have a dream of growing enough beans (dried) for a year's use. But it takes a lot of plants to do it. But hey, fun is fun.

A friend of mine tried the dried bean thing a few years ago. She harvested about 2 lbs. - just enough for one really big pot of chili. Our congregation had a chili cook-off, and she won with her pot made with her homegrown beans!

GG

but black beans are so incredibly easy to grow, they almost take care of them selves and then you just neglect them long enough in the fall for them to dry accordingly and then presto you have a great protein that you did not have to hack off the head of anything to get.

I got a few lbs from an extremely small plot, perhaps 4 feet by 5 feet.