If you’ve ever tried dieting or fitness meal plans, you’ve probably come across a special food ingredient: quinoa. In light meals or salads, quinoa usually appears as the main carbohydrate. But what makes quinoa stand out? What are its nutritional advantages? After reading this, you may want to bring quinoa straight to your dining table. The Identity and Status of Quinoa Quinoa, also known as Chenopodium quinoa, is an annual plant native to the Andes region of South America and has been a traditional staple food for Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Globally, there are over 3,000 known varieties of quinoa, with white, red, and black quinoa being the most common. Called Quinoa, but Not Wheat From a botanical perspective, quinoa belongs to the Amaranthaceae family, the same family as spinach and beets. By contrast, our daily staples such as wheat and rice belong to the grass family (Poaceae). This means that quinoa is not actually a cereal grain, though it is often co...
If you’ve ever tried dieting or fitness meal plans, you’ve probably come across a special food ingredient: quinoa. In light meals or salads, quinoa usually appears as the main carbohydrate. But what makes quinoa stand out? What are its nutritional advantages? After reading this, you may want to bring quinoa straight to your dining table. The Identity and Status of Quinoa Quinoa, also known as Chenopodium quinoa, is an annual plant native to the Andes region of South America and has been a traditional staple food for Indigenous peoples for thousands of years. Globally, there are over 3,000 known varieties of quinoa, with white, red, and black quinoa being the most common. Called Quinoa, but Not Wheat From a botanical perspective, quinoa belongs to the Amaranthaceae family, the same family as spinach and beets. By contrast, our daily staples such as wheat and rice belong to the grass family (Poaceae). This means that quinoa is not actually a cereal grain, though it is often co...