Exotic Quinoa

Although quinoa was already known and used by ancient Incas, it has become popular in our countries just recently. In Central and South America it is as popular as wheat. Quinoa is very welcomed enrichment of your diet, especially for vegetarians. Its preparation is very quick and it can be added to salads, flour but it is very tasty as a hot porridge for breakfast. The Incas even made a brandy of it called “chica” of it.

Similarly like buckwheat, quinoa also does not contain gluten and therefore is suitable for celiacs. Although it is possible to make flour out of quinoa, it does not belong to grain. Quinoa is a complex food and its composition becomes a nutritional bomb. Just like soybeans, quinoa contains essential fatty acids that are needed for proper body development. Quinoa may be an excellent source of proteins (usually contains from 12 up to 22% of protein). It is also a rich source of fiber and although does not contain any calories or nutrients, it provides consumers with an entire amount of healthy and beneficial properties. Quinoa may reduce level of bad cholesterol and can solve problems with faeces. One serving of cooked quinoa contains 5.2 grams of fiber.
Quinoa represents a very good resource of vitamins and minerals such as beta-carotene, vitamin C, folic acid, thiamine and riboflavin. It is an invaluable source of minerals, for example calcium, iron, potassium, zinc or magnesium.

Regular consumption of quinoa provides us with following healthy benefits

People, who include regular consumption of quinoa to their diet, may reduce the risk of heart attack, obesity and diabetes of 2nd level as well as lower blood pressure and cholesterol.

Using quinoa in kitchen

Quina can be consumed for breakfast like porridge. We may add some pieces of fresh or dried fruit or just put powdered quinoa into pancake batter. As a main dish it might be consumed with salad, like pasta, rice substitution or for preparation of vegetarian burgers.

If you use quinoa in your kitchen as well, do not hesitate to share with us some of your favourite recipes in the discussion below the article.