Quinoa
"The grain that grows where grass will not." Francisco Pizarro
And they grow it here now. And here's the picture to prove it. However, I'm not sure how much or even where. The picture is from one company that is growing it - Three Farmers - and indeed they may be worth a story of their own some time.
SO WHY ALL THE FUSS?
I am not sure when quinoa became the massive thing that it is today. So massive in fact that 2013 was declared by UNESCO, the International Year of Quinoa. Did you know that?
It wasn't chosen because it is fashionable though. It was chosen because:
"Quinoa is the only plant food that has all the essential amino acids, trace elements and vitamins, and also has the ability to adapt to different ecological environments and climates. Resistant to drought, poor soils and high salinity, it can be grown from sea level to an altitude of four thousand meters and can withstand temperatures between -8 and 38 degrees Celsius.
As the world faces the challenge of increasing the production of quality food to feed a growing population in a changing climate, quinoa offers an alternative food source for those countries suffering from food insecurity." International year of Quinoa website.
Apparently it has been introduced into various parts of Africa where it is said to be doing well.
Back in South America thought, there have a actually been stories in the press that implied that the crop had become so expensive that the people who grew it could no longer afford it. Not quite true it seems - they kept back some for themselves, but because they now had a good income they were turning to more western foods, and also growing unsuitable things like asparagus instead of grazing llamas and sheep, which leads to disastrous environmental effects. Never a good thing. I have no doubt that there are problems, but according to a 2016 article that I found, 80%
of the world's supply still comes from the Titicama region of Bolivia and Peru - high in the Andes. And it's still largely grown by small producers - most of them women.
I guess you just can't win. There will always be problems but if it can help solve the problems of feeding the world then I say go for it. Though I did see one comment that the health food urban hipsters and greenies who have embraced it should perhaps think more about the high cost to the environment and the high cost to the indigenous populations who provide it. Anyway it seems that America and parts of Europe now grow it and, as I said at the start of this article, so do we Australians. The Three Farmers, sell their products to Coles so they can't be that small.
I saw some figures about annual production in Wikipedia and from those I would say that production really jumped around 2000. And in the years between 2006 and 2013 its price tripled. So yes it's a crop for the millennial, although it has been around in the west for much longer. Bert Greene in his book The Grains Cookbook, written in 1988, talks about quinoa as a 'new grain' - in the sense of it being new to us. You could find it in health food shops back then, but not easily. He also mentioned amaranth and triticale which have not taken off in quite the same way. Ancient grains - don't know what the other ones are.
But back to quinoa. It isn't actually a grain - i.e it's not a grass. It's a plant related to amaranth, spinach and beetroot and it produces a large head of seeds - which is what we eat. The leaves are also edible but not sold. The husk of the seed contains a soapy, bitter chemical called saponin that is sometimes used in shampoo. It doesn't taste good and it isn't good for you, so the husk is removed. However, they seem to advise that you should still rinse your quinoa before using just in case. As quoted above - it is the only plant food to have complete protein and it's gluten free, not to mention the other goodies - iron, fibre, vitamins, calcium that make it so beloved of nutritionists.
It was domesticated some 3-4,000 years ago by the Incas who regarded it as 'the mother grain'. They regarded it as sacred because eating it seemed to ensure a long life. So sacred that the king or emperor (whatever he was called) sowed the first seeds each year.
Bert Greene (one of my favourite cooks), in his book The Grains Cookbook tells an appealing story about its name, although I don't know how true it is. It sounds a bit apocryphal. In 1532 Francisco Pizarro, on arrival in Cuzco tasted it. He liked it and asked to be shown where it grew. "When he had climbed the Andean plateau and studied the plants' tall stalks and brilliant blossoms lightly dusted with snow, the great conquistador is said to have murmured 'Quimera!' (fantastic). The word was misheard, and misquoted, forever after."
“When quinoa first cropped up 10 years ago, I assumed it was ‘kwin-oa’. Other people can call it ‘keen-wa’ – good luck to them – but I won’t be joining in.” Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
I'm sure he's not alone.
Bert Greene also tells another story about Pizarro which has him banning the growing of quinoa (to keep them subjugated) and encouraging them to eat meat instead. But they were vegetarians and so ate mushrooms instead. Pizarro eventually left at which point, "the mountain mushrooms dried up in the valleys and quinoa seeds sprouted in the altiplano."
Nowadays it's everywhere. I had a quick look at Coles online - fed in 'quinoa' and up popped some 80 different items, from pure quinoa, some of it from Australia - some of it was home brand no less (you know when a product is mainstream when it goes 'home brand') - to baby food, pasta and frozen meals.
I have four recipes in my database but when I looked in the books that I thought would feature it, I was surprised. Stephanie Alexander does not mention it at all in her comprehensive tome, neither does Delia. I have two urban hipster kind of recipe books - no mention - and none from Donna Hay either. Which is interesting. Online the English seem to be more with it - Yotam Ottolenghi, of course (he's very urban hipster) and also Nigel Slater and Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, although since I have recipes in my database I am guessing that delicious has recipes now and then. Most of them seem to be for salads, or for other meals where you would normally find rice, tabbouleh or couscous - for quinoa can be used in much the same way. I think I have only had it once, and it seemed a bit like pearl barley to me - or a large grained couscous. Not unpleasant but not that wonderful either.
I'll end with a couple of recipes that appealed, one from Christmas Cooking with the Weekly - Carrot, feta and quinoa tarts with salsa verde and the other from Coles Magazine - Quinoa, silver beet and feta soda bread. In the first recipe the pastry was made with quinoa, not the filling. Pictures below.
So now that I know that it is actually a good thing I should get over the urban hipster. health food freak image and try to use it. Especially since we now seem to be making our own. Mind you according to Bert Greene there are different kinds of quinoa and they are not all equal - the best comes from those high Andes.
