Superfoods are all the rage these days. Certain berries, fish, leafy greens and nuts all fall into that broad classification of foods that can impart big health benefits. Counted among them is a quirky grain-like seed called quinoa that you may be hearing more about these days.
What Is Quinoa?
Cultivated in the high Andes mountains of South America for more than 5,000 years, quinoa, pronounced KEEN-wah, is an ancient grain that’s fed the world for millennia. But the small, round rice-like food only started gaining in popularity here over the past decade or so, earning “Superfood” status among some nutritionists.
“It’s a relative of beets and spinach and Swiss chard, it’s in that family,” says Cathy Leman, a registered dietitian nutritionist, personal trainer and founder of Dam. Mad. About Breast Cancer, a nutritional resource for the breast cancer community. But for many health-conscious cooks, quinoa has become a revered staple, used as a grain or starch in a variety of dishes.
“Quinoa is technically a seed, but we treat it more like it’s a whole grain,” says Julie Lanford, registered dietitian/nutritionist and author of cancerdietitian.com, a nutrition resource of cancer services. Also sometimes called a pseudo-grain or a pseudo-cereal, quinoa is typically used as a grain or cereal in dishes, even though it’s a seed. “When I’m helping people make choices in the carbohydrate group, we consider it a healthy carbohydrate and kind of lump it in with whole grains. But because it’s a seed, it has more protein than other types of grains, and, it’s gluten-free.” This makes it a great food for vegetarians, vegans or other individuals who can’t or don’t eat meat. Quinoa is also packed with a slew of vitamins and minerals.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture reports that a cup of cooked quinoa contains 220 calories, 8.14 grams of protein, 3.55 grams of fat, 39.41 grams of carbohydrates and 5.2 grams of fiber. That high fiber content makes quinoa a good grain choice, as does its protein content. Quinoa is also considered a complete protein, meaning it contains all nine essential amino acids, the building blocks of protein. Most plant-based proteins do not contain all of these amino acids, but as a seed, quinoa does. With this high fiber, high protein action, it makes you feel fuller longer, which can help you with your weight loss goals.
How Is Quinoa Cooked?
When preparing quinoa, you should first rinse the seeds in a fine-mesh strainer before boiling them. Rinsing helps removes the outer coating of the grain, called saponin, which is a defense mechanism to protect the seeds from insects and birds. This saponin can impart a slightly bitter flavor, so it’s best to rinse it off before cooking. (Some packages of quinoa are labeled as “pre-rinsed” which means you can skip this step.)
Just like you would with other grains, use two parts liquid, which can be water, stock or even milk depending on the recipe, to one part quinoa. As it cooks, the quinoa absorbs the liquid and expands, becoming soft and fluffy. The quinoa is ready to eat when the liquid has been absorbed and you notice what looks like little white rings around a translucent center. (Those rings are the germ of the kernel.) If cooking is an obstacle, Leman recommends seeking out prepared quinoa, such as the frozen plain quinoa available at Trader Joe’s. She says when her kitchen was being renovated, she had to find ways to prepare meals without a stove and found that the frozen quinoa was a great way to maintain nutritious eating habits.
How Can I Incorporate More Quinoa Into My Diet?
Given how versatile quinoa is, “there are so many ways to incorporate more of it into your diet,” Leman says. While most recipes call for cooked quinoa, it can also be used raw – incorporated into granola recipes, for example, to add some high-fiber crunch. If quinoa is a new food for you, Leman recommends starting out by mixing it with rice until you develop a taste for it. “Use half rice and half quinoa and decrease the amount of rice and increase the amount of quinoa over time as your taste buds adjust.” She also recommends using low-sodium vegetable stock or broth as the liquid to boost flavor when using quinoa as a side to vegetables or in place of rice or pasta.
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