The Mother Grain- Quinoa

Weekly Focus: Quinoa can be used as a source other than meat for all 8 essetnial amino acids, and without the saturated fat too!

The Mother of all Grains
                           
I made a mistake the other day and sent my friend a recipe to try that had something strange called “quinoa”(keen -wah) in it.  I got a very tired voice at 6 pm calling me from the grocery store saying, “Molly, no one who works here knows what quinoa is.”  Few do, but you will now be one of the lucky ones!  I’ve called around myself, and one thing I can tell you is that if you go anywhere other than a health food grocery store, they will scrunch their eyebrows and say, “Keen-what?”

Quinoa is a grain (really a seed) with one of the highest protein levels for a grain, and the only one boasting all 8 essential amino acids.  Those acids are the building blocks for cells (picture Lego blocks), and of the 20 needed, your body cannot manufacture 8 of them on its own so they must be consumed.  Quinoa’s quality of protein is so good that the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations compared its value to that of dried whole milk.* 

So why not just eat meat which has all of those essential amino acids too?  Well, if you’re thiking about the iron in red meat, quinoa
* evenly matches beef in iron content!
* Beef has no fiber while quinoa is a good supplier. 
* Beef is high in saturated fat and cholesterol while quinoa has none.
* Beef has none of the mineral manganese, while quinoa is an excellent source (for reducing swollen blood vessels which cause migrane headaches). (1)
* Quinoa is very inexpensive and takes only 15 minutes to cook.

Of course, beef gives twice as much protein ounce for ounce, and you can’t bar-b-q quinoa in the back yard, but you have to admit that it has a lot to offer as a compliment to beef, or even as a vegetarian night alternative.  So that is what I bring you this week, newly rediscovered from South America,  the Mother Grain, or just quinoa. 

(1) http://worldshealthiestfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=142#healthbenefits

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PwkR701pSrg&NR=1

http://www.recipenet.org/health/articles/quinoa.htm

Molly