Quinoa is also called Incakorn, Incawheat, Marvel corn, Peruvian rice, Peruvian spinach, rice spinach, mountain rice and heath korn.
It is just like Amaranth, not a real grain but one of the so-called pseudo-grain or pseudo-cereals. It has protein-rich seeds, in the form of single-seeded nuts of the goosefoot plant Chenopodium quinoa.

Latin-American mountain people in the Andes cultivated Quinoa for about 5000 years. It even grows in a height of 4000 m and is still an important staple food on the west coast of South America.
The cultivation of Quinoa is supported as a part of development projects, especially in Peru and Bolivia, after the old crop was merely preserved by Indios and mountain peoples.
The public authorities act on the assumptions of old traditions, that Native Peoples never had to suffer from starving as long as Quinoa was available.

There are hundreds of different kinds of Quinoa. There are even different coloured seeds, black coloured, light coloured, white seeds, yellow, red, and brown seeds. The yellow seeds are the most common ones in Austria and the ones mainly traded with, which always contain a part of dark grains mixed in, whichever doesn’t affect any quality at all. Quinoa is part of the goosefoot plants, with an herbaceous texture, and the grain has a diameter of 1.5-2.3 mm. The plants reach a height of about 1-2 meters and the maturity of the seeds is reached after 5 months. Quinoa has a special favourable protein composition, and the biological value is at 50 / 56. The lysine content in Quinoa is about three times higher than those of wheat. The minerals Calcium, Iron, Zinc, Potassium and Phosphor are far above the ones in wheat. It also has a very advantageous oil composition which consists of over 50% unsaturated fatty acids. That is also why it counts to the most valuable pseudo-cereals. Quinoa tastes nutty and slightly crunchy. The seedling closes on cooking. It is perfectly qualified for a lowcarb – diet and it doesn’t contain any gluten, which makes it a perfect option and alternative for people with wheat allergies. Quinoa can be perfectly used as a side dish, for soups, stuffing, vegetable stir fries, casseroles, bread, desserts and salads.

Nutrition Facts/ 100g

Preparation: Wash the grains in a strainer, boil it with twice the amount of water and let it boil on low heat for about 15 minutes. Season and process it as you wish.