the.com/quinoa
a seed that crashed the grain party and outshined every guest.
means A small, protein-rich seed from a South American plant, cooked and eaten much like a grain despite not being one.
from From Spanish quinua, borrowed from Quechua kinwa (or kinuwa), the language of the Andean peoples who cultivated it for thousands of years. The Inca prized it as a staple — reportedly calling it the 'mother grain' — long before it ever reached a Western health-food aisle.
- botanical truth
- actually a seed, related to spinach and beets
- ancient title
- Incas called it the mother grain
- space crop
- NASA studied it for long-haul missions
- bitter armor
- natural saponins coat seeds to repel birds
- complete protein
- contains all nine essential amino acids
incan empire — domesticated quinoa in the andes around 3000 bce as a staple crop alongside potatoes
peru — world's largest quinoa producer, cultivating it in andean highlands for over 5000 years
bolivia — second largest quinoa producer, particularly in the salar de uyuni region at 12,500 feet elevation