Talk:Quinoa

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Contents

[edit] Mineral content

"Germination activates its natural enzymes and multiplies its vitamin and mineral content." - I am prepared to believe that it is possible to increase its vitamin content but the mineral content? Surely this defies science, since minerals are essential elemental? Perhaps the writer means absorbable mineral content?

[edit] What is a grain?

I removed this text from the preparation section:

(note: quinoa is not technically a grain, but the seed of a leafy plant related to spinach)

Personally, I find it unnecessary pedantry to insist that "grain" be interpreted to include only grasses here, but in any case, if this is to be emphasized, it should be near the top of the article rather than halfway through the last section.

Pekinensis 13:58, 29 Mar 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Confusing directions

I noticed the following two sentences in the article that do not make any sense to me:

"Most North Americans prepare one cup dry quinoa in four cups of water and two of stock for accentuation of natural flavours. Once drained with a sieve, this method will yield three cups cooked grain."

Could somebody elaborate on this or explain it better? I have no idea what the author was trying to say by this. Are you supposed to soak the seeds and drain the soaked seeds in a seive and then cook them somehow?

Metaphorman 04:06, 21 Apr 2005 (UTC)

It seems to me that if anything, this recipe above will produce a disgusting mush. Metaphorman 01:02, 13 Jun 2005 (UTC)

[edit] About cooking quinoa

I never cook quinoa as itself, but use it in combination with other vegetables. It's very good for example

  1. to replace partially or completely meat in a tomato sauce eaten with pasta
  2. I cook it with brocoli and some curry, than put it in the blender and use it as sauce on orecchiette, but any other kind of pasta can be used.

EstebanLux~

[edit] Poisoning?

I've removed the bit which reads

There have been at least a couple documented cases of persons who have ingested quinoa that have had violent allergic reactions. The exact cause is unknown

as this is unreferenced. There was no mention of any specific cases at the Plants for a Future database page on Quinoa, although it did say

The leaves and seeds of all members of this genus are more or less edible. However, many of the species in this genus contain saponins, though usually in quantities too small to do any harm. Although toxic, saponins are poorly absorbed by the body and most pass straight through without any problem. They are also broken down to a large extent in the cooking process. Saponins are found in many foods, such as some beans. Saponins are much more toxic to some creatures, such as fish, and hunting tribes have traditionally put large quantities of them in streams, lakes etc in order to stupefy or kill the fish[K]. The plants also contain some oxalic acid, which in large quantities can lock up some of the nutrients in the food. However, even considering this, they are very nutritious vegetables in reasonable quantities. Cooking the plants will reduce their content of oxalic acid. People with a tendency to rheumatism, arthritis, gout, kidney stones or hyperacidity should take especial caution if including this plant in their diet since it can aggravate their condition[238]., so maybe I'll amend the article to refelct this instead? If someone can provide a ref for the poisoning cases I'd be happy for that text to be re-instated. quercus robur 17:38, 5 September 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Pronunciation

I added the alternate (and preferred in many dictionaries) pronunciation keen-O-a.

See dictionary.com for reference. (unsigned comment by User:66.15.204.123.

If the Spanish word were quinoa, then the pronunciation would be /ki'noa/, which can be anglicised quite faithfully as /kɪ'nəʊə/. If the Spanish word were quínoa (with the accent marked as being on the first syllable), then the pronunciation would be /'kinoa/, which could be anglicised quite faithfully as /'ki:nwɑ:/ or /'ki:nwə/.
So, which is the correct Spanish word? Well, dictionary.com says it is quínoa with the accent [1]. Thefreedictionary.com agrees [2]. ChambersHarrap.co.uk seems not to know the word [3]. AskOxford.com doesn't have it either [4]. Even Diccionarios.com seems ignorant.
What about Google? Well, most of the sites mentioning it seem to be in English or French. The few sites in Spanish seem undecided on the question of the accent. Hmmm, what do our colleagues on the Spanish Wikipedia think? Interesting, they have decided to give the article a name in scientific Latin: es:Chenopodium quinoa. They then go on to give the Spanish name as "quinua o[r] quínoa". Armed with this info, we can look up "quinua" in Google. That does indeed appear to be what it is called in Spanish. According to Spanish spelling rules, the -ua ending puts the stress on the first syllable.
So, the answer is that the stress should be on the first syllable. I've been saying it wrong all this time! Perhaps we should note in the article that although "quinoa" is normal in English, it is in fact from the Spanish quinua, in turn from the Quechua kinua. — Gulliver ✉ 12:43, 25 May 2006 (UTC)
Not so fast!! My fiancée is a native Argentine (una porteña). She says it's pronounced "quinoa" with the accent (of course) on the second syllable ("o"). As further proof, google "quinoa" for the .ar domain. You won't see it spelled with an accent over the "i". Spanish is her native language, and she ate plenty of quinoa growing up, so I'd say at best usage is divided in Latin America, assuming that the other sources are correct. The pronounciation section needs to be corrected and further researched. 68.203.200.225 20:36, 18 August 2006 (UTC)
I agree with the "Not so fast!!" comment above. My wife is Ecuadorian & I've lived there for 7 years. The pronunciation is Kin-o-a. Furthermore it doesn't really matter where the accent is: all the vowels are pronounced, including the "o".
This is an established English word, so the Spanish pronunciation is irrelevant. The OED has both /kwɪˈnoʊə/ and /ˈkiːnoʊə/. If you want the Spanish, just click on Spanish Wikipedia: they have three pronunciations, "quinua, quínoa, o quinoa". kwami (talk) 20:52, 12 December 2007 (UTC)

I am a bit confused as to why people are so adamant about sticking to the Spanish pronunciation. The word is not even originally Spanish (or French, for people who seem to believe that). The word came to English via Spanish, true, but it came to Spanish most likely from Quechua, where the word is spelled kinwa (with other variations possible), pronounced (in IPA) [kinwa], or what could be approximated in English as "keen-wah". That's also the only way I've heard it pronounced by English speakers (at least here in California). But if there are other accepted pronunciations in English, that's cool too... --SameerKhan (talk) 09:24, 12 March 2008 (UTC)

The opening of the article correctly states that:

"Quinoa originated in the Andean region of South America, where it has been an important food for 6,000 years. Its name is the Spanish spelling of the Quechua name."

Quechua was spoken by Inca. Inca capital was located in modern day Peru (Cusco). Quinoa is a vital everyday foodsource in countless Andean recipes. The descendents of the Inca who live in this region today still pronounce it Kee-NO-ah as they have for thousands of years. Why do all these annoying restaurant owners in the USA correct my wife (una Peruana) on her pronounciation of this word? Where in the world does this strange pronounciation (KEEN-WAH) come from!?!?! It doesn't look like the spanish spelling and no one in any country where Quinoa is INDIGENOUS would understand you if you said KEEN-WAH!

If there is some logical reason why anyone should pronounce it KEEN-WAH I would really like to hear it. Otherwise I think we should respect and honor the culture and heritage that brought us this wonderful crop rather than try to assert some ignorant meaningless version of it!

KEEN-WAH is simply an Anglicisation of the word. It's like so many other words in English that sound nothing like they do in their original language. If I was speaking Quechua I would probably pronounce it differently. If the pronunciation guide made is clear that the way it's pronounced in Quechua is different than in English, then okay...but English speakers say KEEN-WAH, though at least one person I know says KWIN-O-AH...Besides, languages and pronunciation are not always logical, so a logical explanation may not be enough. Hires an editor (talk) 00:40, 14 May 2008 (UTC)

[edit] For kids ?

Does anybody knows how old a baby has to be to eat quinoa ?

EstebanLux

[edit] Omega 3?

The article says:

Quinoa also contains omega-3 fatty acids, which provide benefit to the heart.

On the other hand, according to the USDA database, quinoa contains 2.214% omega-6 (18:2) and only 0.133% omega-3 (18:3) - that is, a 16:1 omega-6 to omega-3 ratio, which means this is as bad or even worse than most cooking oils. Mentioning quina as a source for omega-3 is plain wrong.

     Sela

[edit] Preparation (sprouting)

Is anyone able to add any content in the Preparation section about sprouting quinoa?

[edit] how much protein?

It would be nice to have a total protein content, as well as an amino acid profile, listed with the nutritional information for quinoa.

[edit] Future section

I'm moving the enclosed from the article to here:

==Future==
Quinoa could be cultivated in parts of the world where no grains grow because summers are not hot enough; and then reducing imports of cereals in certain countries and increasing food production in the world; those areas are the same where the potato was introduced: central and north Scandinavia, Siberia, North Canada, Alaska Peninsula, Aleutian Islands, Kuril Islands, even Greenland perhaps deserves crop trials, it would be very interesting to establish quinoa crops in Iceland; a country where no grain crops are possible.

Something along these lines might be appropriate but only if WP:ATT and encylopedic tone can be improved. See Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Plants#Original research in several articles for more discussion. Kingdon 18:12, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

[edit] quinoa ? available india bangalore

hii any one can tell me this seed is available in bangalore can i know wat we call in indian language quinoa ? mail me manu_handsome2001@yahoo.co.in —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 59.96.40.68 (talk) 10:22, 21 March 2007 (UTC).

[edit] Nutrition info

I did a Google search, found this on netnutritionist.com (http://www.netnutritionist.com/qa13.htm), got the permission of the author (per an email:

I'd like to cite your web page for the nutritional content of Quinoa, or would like it if you could point me to the source of this information that you have posted. Specifically, I'd like to copy the nutrition information to a Wikipedia article about Quinoa. Thanks!

her response:

Sure, I am not sure where I got it. But if I quoted it was from a reputable source so go ahead. Sincerely, Gay Riley, MS, RD, CCN www.netnutritionist.com

<tbody> </tbody>

Quinoa/1/2 cup dry
Calories
318
Total fat (g)
4.9
Saturated fat (g)
0.5
Monounsaturated fat (g)
1.3
Polyunsaturated fat (g)
2
Dietary fiber (g)
5
Protein (g)
11
Carbohydrate (g)
59
Cholesterol (mg)
0
Sodium (mg)
18
Riboflavin (mg)
0.3
Vitamin E (mg)
4.1
Copper (mg)
0.7
Iron (mg)
7.9
Magnesium (mg)
179
Manganese (mg)
1.9
Phosphorus (mg)
349
Potassium (mg)
629
Zinc (mg)
2.8

Also, from the same page, but this information should maybe go somewhere else. I'm posting here for reference purposes.

Amaranth<o:p> </o:p>

Amaranth is a broad-leafed plant which produces multi-headed flowerets containing grain-like seed of extremely high nutritional value. The tiny seeds are a creamy tan in color and are about 1/32" in diameter. Each plant produces 40,000-60,000 seeds. The amaranth seeds are used in their whole grain form, milled into flour or puffed into miniature kernels. <o:p> </o:p>

Amaranth,

                                   although used as a grain, is more aptly termed 
                                   a pseudo-grain. It is used as a grain in cereals, 
                                   pastas, baked goods and other foods. It is in 
                                   a genetic classification of its own (genus Amaranthus,

family Amaranthacae).<o:p> </o:p>

Compare the nutritional value of amaranth to other grains based on 100 grams:

<tbody> </tbody>

  Amaranth Wheat Corn Rice Oats
Protein 19g 12.8g 9.4g 5.6g 15.8g
Fiber (crude) 5.6g 2.3g 3g .3g 3g
Fat (crude) 6g 1.7g 4.7g .6g 6.9g
Carbohydrates 6g 71g 74g 79.4g 66g
Calcium 250mg 29.4mg 7mg 9mg 54mg
Iron 15mg 4mg 2.7mg 4.4mg 5mg
Calories 414 334 365 360 389

Hires an editor 12:40, 3 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Shelf Life

Does any one know the average shelf life of Quinoa in its different storage forms? It would be very helpful to have in the article. -Kain Nihil 18:38, 28 October 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Wheat and Rice vs Quinoa Protein

"Unlike wheat or rice (which are low in lysine), quinoa contains a balanced set of essential amino acids for humans, making it an unusually complete food. This means it takes less quinoa protein to meet one's needs than wheat protein." This doesn't sound right to me. From what I understand, wheat and rice completely lack several essential amino acids for humans and so it doesn't matter how much of it you eat, rice and wheat won't ever be able to completely meet one's needs. --Saritamackita (talk) 04:10, 15 March 2008 (UTC)

Completely lacking is not the case. The amounts are nutritionally insignificant. Not sure of the exact figures, but you'd have to eat an impossible amount of wheat or rice to get the appropriate amount of daily protein, whereas with quinoa you'd have to eat about 10 servings or so a day to get an adequate amount of protein per day. It's still more servings per day than some other high protein vegetable products, but high (in terms of protein) for a cereal (or pseudo-cereal). See the charts above for more information. Hires an editor (talk) 12:27, 15 March 2008 (UTC)