Friday’s Food Fact - Quinoa
Natural Food Information on Quinoa
First off, I realized recently I’ve been pronouncing this incorrectly for years. I won’t even tell you how I was mangling it, but instead, here’s the correct pronunciation: keen – wa
Quinoa is a seed about the size of a millet, produced from a plant related to spinach and Swiss chard. Chenopodium or “Goosefoot” comes from the Andes mountains region of South America.
It has some interesting history. The Incas used to mix quinoa with fat and roll it into a ball. The Incan armies used them for food, calling the mixture “war balls.”
Information On Healthy Food Quinoa
Now days quinoa is available as a grain, flour, pasta and cereal. It’s nutritional quality is compared to that of dried whole milk by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. Bottom line, quinoa has more protein in it than any other grain known. Some varieties of quinoa have more than 20% protein. In comparison, hard red winter wheat contains about 12.6%, and red wheats have the highest proteins of the different kinds of wheat.
More Health Food Info on Quinoa
Even better, the protein in quinoa is complete, containing all the essentail amino acids. It’s also rich in iron, potassium and riboflavin, plus B6, niacin and thiamin. Since it’s high in protein, that makes it an especially good food for vegetarians.
More filling than rice and wheat, quinoa is a good food to help manage your weight.
Quinoa Is An Easy Health Food
Compared to some other grains, quinoa cooks up fairly quickly. It only takes about fifteen minutes to cook the whole grain. It’s excellent in hot casseroles, pilafs, soups, stews and stir-fries. Quinoa also works well in salads.
Try some quinoa as an easy way to put a high-protein grain in your diet!
