The United Nations has declared 2013 ‘International Year of the Quinoa’ in order to highlight the value of the grain, which is seen as an alternative quality food source for countries that are food insecure.
Quinoa contains all nine essential amino-acids, is rich in minerals and vitamins and is gluten free, a press release from the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said.
“Like the potato, it was one of the main foods of the Andean peoples before the Incas,” the release said, while adding that traditionally the grains are roasted and ground to flour which is used to bake different types of bread. It can also be cooked, added to soups, used as cereal, as pasta and even fermented to beer. When cooked, quinoa boasts a nutty flavour.
Quinoa also has an extraordinary ability to adapt to different agro-ecological zones and can be grown in areas with relative humidity ranging from 40 to 88%, from low-lying areas at sea level up to 4000 metres above sea level in temperatures from -8 to 38 degrees Celsius.
The FAO also noted the role indigenous people of the Andean region in preserving quinoa in its natural form for present and future generations. “To meet the challenge of increasing the production of quality food to feed the world’s population and to reduce hunger and poverty in keeping with the Millennium Development Goals, quinoa provides an alternative for those countries which are food insecure,” it said.
The UN’s International Year of Quinoa was officially launched in New York yesterday.
