Quinoa, pronounced “keen-wa”, is well known to whole food enthusiasts as a nutritious and delicious alternative to rice, beloved of vegetarians thanks to its high protein content. Yet gardeners are surprised to learn that it is easy to grow plentiful quantities of quinoa in a temperate climate suck as the UK, even on a small plot.
The forgotten grain of the Incas is enjoying a renewed, and well deserved, popularity as new varieties are developed which are suitable for cultivation in wetter and colder climates.
Advantages of Growing Quinoa in the Garden
A small amount of seed will grow a great deal of grain, though you must choose the right variety, with loose seed heads, if you are gardening in a temperate climate. Quinoa seeds have a soapy coating of saponins that needs to be washed off before cooking, but this stops birds from eating your crop, making it suitable for cultivation in small gardens where small scale cereal growing normally attracts an immovable flock of pigeons.
How to Grow Quinoa
Grow just as you would outdoor tomatoes (quinoa is, if anything, more robust than tomatoes).
- Sow quinoa seed thinly under cover in pots or seed trays in spring
- Prick out small plants, grow on individually in pots and harden off
- Plant out with around 50cm between plants
How to Harvest Quinoa
The seed are ready to harvest when the first seeds may be rubbed easily from the seed heads. Cut the stalk below the seed head and hang bunches of seed heads upside down, under cover, until dry.
How to Thresh Quinoa by hand
And quinoa has another advantage: it is easy to thresh and winnow. Try threshing wheat; you will gain a new found respect for our ancestors who used to separate the stubborn grain from the ear with a simple flail of wood on a hinge of eel-skin. Those were tough guys. In contrast, threshing quinoa is a joy.
Beat out the seeds into a bucket, pass through a loose mesh garden sieve and then winnow in the wind to remove bits of dried leaf, etc.
Quinoa Preparation before Cooking
To remove the soapy coating knows as saponin, soak your quinoa grain in plenty of cold water for several hours. Strain and rinse in a sieve with plenty of cold water. You may wish to repeat this process once again if you find that a soapy flavor remains.
How to Cook Quinoa
Cook quinoa as you would rice, simmer for around 15 minutes. Indeed, quinoa makes a delicious alternative to rice with vegetarian or meat based dishes.
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Readers may also enjoy The Organic Allotment along with Clearing an Overgrown Garden. For more adventures with grains, such as wheat,at home learn about Hand Grain Mills.
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