Quinoa

Somewhere on my quest to grow as much of my own food as possible, I managed to get hold of some quinoa seeds and scattered them over a small patch of freshly  rotovated soil. I watered them in, but as water became scarcer throughout the summer, I stopped watering it, prioritising other crops that were on the irrigation system. 

The quinoa survived in spite of the heat, the drought, and the neglect and at the end of the season I cut the stalks, laid them on a sheet in the sun to dry for a few days, then, with the help of a friend, Gise, I spent hours stripping the seeds off the stalks. Once free from the stalks, I winnowed it until the little seeds were clean of all debris, then  I cooked it, just as I would shop-bought quinoa, excited to sample the hard-won fruits if many long hours of labour...

It was absolutely disgusting! It tasted bitter, and sort of soapy; it was much too bitter to eat. A quick Google search (which I ought to have done before I cooked it) told me that quinoa seeds have a coating of saponins which make them unpalatable, if not downright toxic. This helps to protect the seeds from being eaten by insects and birds, and clearly humans, too. In order to remove these saponins, the quinoa needs to be washed. A lot. Shop bought quinoa has already undergone processing to remove the saponins and make it ready to eat. Clearly I had a lot to learn!

What was left of the quinoa sat in an airtight container in my store room for the rest of the year. I just couldn't bring myself to  try cooking it again, but come the spring of 2023, I scattered a few handfuls of seed over an area of the garden where there's no irrigation and left it to do its thing. Once again it survived and grew to fruition, yielding about 3 kgs from a neglected bit of land that had received no water other than the odd bit of rain. Once again I diligently harvested the stalks, dried them off, stripped them of seeds, winnowed the seeds clean of debris and put them in a container. I was several months before I could bring myself to try cooking it again. 

This time I put the quinoa in a big pan, filled it with water and agitated the water with a whisk until the surface was all frothy with saponins. I drained the water away and repeated the process again and again and again until the water no longer frothed up. It took ages. Then, satisfied at last that I must have removed the offending substance, I cooked the quinoa. But still it had a bitter aftertaste. How could that be? I'd literally spent HOURS and goodness knows how much water washing the stuff! 

Determined not to be defeated, the next time I tried using my quinoa, I put it in a fine mesh bag, the kind you can buy for fruit and veg in the supermarket, hung it in my 2,500 litre water tank that I use for irrigating the garden, and left it there for 24 hours. If that didn't soak away the saponins, I didn't know what would. I just hoped it wouldn't have a negative effect on my plants! Once thoroughly soaked, I rinsed off the quinoa and cooked it. Just to be sure, half way through cooking, I changed the water. At last the quinoa wasn't bitter! In fact it tasted great! But what a palaver. 

Now that I know what to do and have finally worked out a good system it seems almost easy: soak it in A LOT of water overnight, then change the water half way through cooking. Easy!  But it took a long time to get there.

Going forward, quinoa is definitely a crop I'll be growing each year. I love how easy it is to grow, how well it survives in the heat without watering (although I suspect it would do a lot better with irrigation), how easy it is to harvest, and the cherry on the quinoa cake is that it's highly nutritious. The only thing not in its favour is the amount of work and water needed to remove the saponins, but now I've cracked that, I feel we're on our way. 

At some point in the future I'd like to do some research into how I can use the saponins - homemade laundry detergent? Washing up liquid? and then there really will be no negatives. 

What to make with quinoa?

Quinoa salad

Quinoa and bean burgers