Quinoa

Quinoa (pronounced Keen-Wa) is advertised as "The Supergrain Ancient Food for Today" by Bob's Red Mill and it is, until such time as we run out, the new breakfast of choice around this household.

One cup of Quinoa added to two cups of water provided enough cereal for the whole family this morning and I've got a little left over. I added raisins and cinnamon while cooking and topped it off with a bit of honey and milk just prior to eating. Yum.

Apparently this is the "supergrain" used by the Incas of South America who called it the mother grain and, along with potatoes and corn, was a staple of the Inca diet. It's "high in fiber, a good source of iron, and has all eight essential amino acids" according to the label. It is, I believe, also very high in protein having 24g per cup of dried grain.

It's light, has a pleasant nutty flavor, and is easily digested.

It takes about 15 minutes to simmer and then another 15 minutes to sit before fluffing but I suppose whipping up a batch in the Trangia would be easy enough.

If I can stand it long enough to eat 26 ounces of it at home then I'll give it a try in my mess kit. I don't know just how long the shelf life of a package is but it should provide me with enough nutrition to make it worth the additional weight in my pack and cutting it down to a 1/4 cup serving size as suggested on the label should get me seventeen meals with nothing added but water.

Thanks for reading,


B