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Tuesday, June 9, 2009

Quinoa

Denise asked what quinoa is, and to be honest I wouldn't know, either, unless someone had made it as part of our community dinner a few years ago in the Foreign Language Student Residence at BYU.

Here is a brief excerpt from the Wikipedia page about quinoa. There's information about it's use and cultivation, etc. which is interesting as well, but I thought I would just include the information about the nutritional aspect of quinoa, which is really what interests me.

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Quinoa was of great nutritional importance in pre-Columbian Andean civilizations, being secondary only to the potato, and was followed in importance by maize. In contemporary times, this crop has become highly appreciated for its nutritional value, as its protein content is very high (12%–18%), making it a healthful choice for vegetarians and vegans. Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete protein source.[3] It is a good source of dietary fiber and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. Quinoa is gluten-free and considered easy to digest. Because of all these characteristics, quinoa is being considered a possible crop in NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support System for long-duration manned spaceflights.[3]

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The orange text is what I think is so great, in addition to the fact that quinoa tastes great and seems very versatile. (I haven't ever cooked it myself, I've only enjoyed it in pre-cooked meals or meals made by others, but I've liked it every time.)

I had a great quinoa and coral lentil salad last week that I bought at Monop' across from the Centre Pompidou (along with an awesome bulgur wheat salad), and then Black*Eiffel posted about it, which lead to me getting the recipe I mentioned from one of the people who commented.

Do you guys ever use quinoa? Have any recipes you especially like?

The one I'm going to make for my family reunion is here.

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