The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) declared that 2013 be recognized as “The International Year of the Quinoa.”
Quin-what?!
Quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah). If you haven’t heard about this ancient food,then be prepared to be awed and amazed. Relatively new on the mainstream culinary scene in the United States, quinoa has been consumed by humans living in the Andean region of Ecuador, Bolivia, Colombia and Peru for thousands of years, writes Erika Gray in Wednesday’s Food section.
The versatile, grainlike seed is prepared and consumed much like you would prepare those more common cereal grasses like wheat, oats, barley, rice and rye. Grainlike? Yes, quinoa is not a grain. It’s the seed of the goosefoot plant, a relative of the more commonly known vegetables spinach and beets.
The appeal of quinoa is that it is easy to cook, nutrient-rich, naturally gluten-free and has an incredible chameleonlike quality that lends itself beautifully to a wide selection of recipes that are appropriate for any meal of the day.
For breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes and preparation tips, read Wednesday’s Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.