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Setting the record straight on Quinoa (Frequently Asked Questions about Quinoa) (press release)

Wednesday, June 01, 2005
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger
Editor of NaturalNews.com (See all articles...)
Tags: health news, Natural News, nutrition


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What is quinoa (keen-wa)?

Quinoa is a seed grain that was a staple food of the Incas in South America. The majority of it is grown at high altitude in the mountains of Ecuador, Bolivia and Peru. It's the only vegetable source of protein recognized as complete with all the essential amino acids needed for growth and development. It's also a good source of iron, zinc, magnesium, phosphorus, vitamins B6 and E, and can be an excellent source of fiber. It cooks in 15 minutes and can be used like rice or couscous in salads, stews, soup, stir-fries, pilafs, or as a cereal. Quinoa is gluten free. The flour is an excellent substitute for wheat flour in quick breads or baked goods that don't use yeast like cakes or cookies.

Do you have to store quinoa in the refrigerator?

No, quinoa stores easily in a dry kitchen cabinet. Unlike many whole grains that get rancid (off-flavored) quickly, it has a long shelf life of several years. This could be because of the high vitamin E content that acts as an antioxidant. The oil in quinoa does not develop an off flavor.

Do you have to wash or rinse quinoa before cooking and eating?

All quinoa has a bitter-tasting coating on each seed that protects it from being eaten by birds in the field. This is called saponin and must be removed before it is cooked and eaten. When quinoa was first exported from South America in the 1980's, the saponin was not cleaned off well and it was important to wash it before cooking. Today the cleaning is more thorough either by polishing or pre-washing so that the consumer does not have to wash or rinse it although many people do just to be sure.

Is all quinoa whole grain?

There is a whole grain quinoa produced by Inca Organics in Ecuador that is available in the US, England, and Australia. It is washed in a 3-step operation that thoroughly cleans the bitter saponin from the quinoa without removing any of the vital nutrients. It is then dried to a specific humidity and is ready to eat with no further rinsing. All other quinoa that is grown in Peru and Bolivia is mechanically polished by abrasion to take off the saponin. This produces a saponin powder that is used as an emulsifier in the pharmaceutical industry. The leftover quinoa is then sold as the grain quinoa; but is not a whole grain. The polishing makes it a refined grain like white rice, white flour, or pearled barley. It is lower in protein, vitamins, and minerals and has half the dietary fiber as whole grain quinoa.

Is all quinoa the same?

No, only quinoa grown in Ecuador by Inca Organics is cleaned by the unique washing method and not polished. Inca Organics quinoa is, therefore, the only whole grain quinoa on the market in the US, England and Australia. All other quinoa is polished to remove the bitter taste; but this polishing also removes many of the vital nutrients and makes it a refined grain.


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About the author:Mike Adams (aka the "Health Ranger") is a best selling author (#1 best selling science book on Amazon.com) and a globally recognized scientific researcher in clean foods. He serves as the founding editor of NaturalNews.com and the lab science director of an internationally accredited (ISO 17025) analytical laboratory known as CWC Labs. There, he was awarded a Certificate of Excellence for achieving extremely high accuracy in the analysis of toxic elements in unknown water samples using ICP-MS instrumentation. Adams is also highly proficient in running liquid chromatography, ion chromatography and mass spectrometry time-of-flight analytical instrumentation.

Adams is a person of color whose ancestors include Africans and Native American Indians. He's also of Native American heritage, which he credits as inspiring his "Health Ranger" passion for protecting life and nature against the destruction caused by chemicals, heavy metals and other forms of pollution.

Adams is the founder and publisher of the open source science journal Natural Science Journal, the author of numerous peer-reviewed science papers published by the journal, and the author of the world's first book that published ICP-MS heavy metals analysis results for foods, dietary supplements, pet food, spices and fast food. The book is entitled Food Forensics and is published by BenBella Books.

In his laboratory research, Adams has made numerous food safety breakthroughs such as revealing rice protein products imported from Asia to be contaminated with toxic heavy metals like lead, cadmium and tungsten. Adams was the first food science researcher to document high levels of tungsten in superfoods. He also discovered over 11 ppm lead in imported mangosteen powder, and led an industry-wide voluntary agreement to limit heavy metals in rice protein products.

In addition to his lab work, Adams is also the (non-paid) executive director of the non-profit Consumer Wellness Center (CWC), an organization that redirects 100% of its donations receipts to grant programs that teach children and women how to grow their own food or vastly improve their nutrition. Through the non-profit CWC, Adams also launched Nutrition Rescue, a program that donates essential vitamins to people in need. Click here to see some of the CWC success stories.

With a background in science and software technology, Adams is the original founder of the email newsletter technology company known as Arial Software. Using his technical experience combined with his love for natural health, Adams developed and deployed the content management system currently driving NaturalNews.com. He also engineered the high-level statistical algorithms that power SCIENCE.naturalnews.com, a massive research resource featuring over 10 million scientific studies.

Adams is well known for his incredibly popular consumer activism video blowing the lid on fake blueberries used throughout the food supply. He has also exposed "strange fibers" found in Chicken McNuggets, fake academic credentials of so-called health "gurus," dangerous "detox" products imported as battery acid and sold for oral consumption, fake acai berry scams, the California raw milk raids, the vaccine research fraud revealed by industry whistleblowers and many other topics.

Adams has also helped defend the rights of home gardeners and protect the medical freedom rights of parents. Adams is widely recognized to have made a remarkable global impact on issues like GMOs, vaccines, nutrition therapies, human consciousness.

In addition to his activism, Adams is an accomplished musician who has released over a dozen popular songs covering a variety of activism topics.

Click here to read a more detailed bio on Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, at HealthRanger.com.

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