Quinoa: Nutritional Powerhouse

Nutritionally considered a "supergrain", quinoa (most commonly pronounced "KEEN-wah") is technically not a grain, but the seed of a distant relative to spinach.

An important food for over 6000 years in the Andes mountains of Peru, quinoa is known as the "mother of all grains". It is an excellent source of high quality protein containing both the amino acids lysine (absent in most grains) and methionine (absent in beans) ... so it is an attractive choice to anyone looking for "complete" protein in their diets.

Although fairly non-descript, the taste grows on you ... as does the fact that it is also a good source of fibre, phosphorus, iron, magnesium and B vitamins.

If we are to approach anything remotely close to a "balanced" diet, then variety must be a key strategy ... and this is one option definitely worth considering. Organic quinoa is readily available and it's gluten-free and easy to digest.

To make it even more interesting, I usually prepare it in combination with brown basmati rice and wild rice, something that is truly delicious!