Quinoa – The Not So New Super Food

Restored from the Empower Network archive (2011–2017), lightly edited to meet our current advertising standards. Views are the original author’s.

An ancient grain from the Incas, known throughout centuries as the mother grain, saved me during my pilgrimage of healing to Ecuador. One of the symptoms of the cancer was barely being able to eat. What I did manage to swallow never stayed down for very long and my body was lacking nutrition. I was treated with Stinging Nettle when I first arrived in Ecuador (a story all its own) and I felt energized. It was like my body was put on a charger and although it was full of energy it was still very weak.

Shairy, the shaman who was treating me, knew I was in no condition to endure mountain climbing or the shock of the extreme hot and cold of the springs.  The first thing he set out to do was find something I could eat that would nourish me. This is my story of Quinoa.

We walked down a dusty road, I felt bad about the slow pace that I set. It took us over half an hour to walk to the bus stop, a trip which would later take less than 5 minutes. We got on a rickety, old bus that was very much like the big yellow buses my kids ride to school, only much older and painted with a really cool mural. It was not long before we arrived in Otavalo, the famous artisan market.  The place was bustling with people, beautiful blankets, woven jackets, sculptures, paintings, handmade jewelry stretched for miles. There was food everywhere, the delicacy was roasted guinea pig and it was the first time I was grateful for not being able to eat.

It was interesting to watch Shairy shopping, he went from stand to stand several times with his hand outstretched palm down toward the produce. I noticed other people doing the same thing. Then he stopped in front of one of the smaller stands and smiled, this was the place. Later I found out the energy of the stand was just as important to the people as the food it carried. He asked for a bag and placed it under a hanging barrel. He pulled out a cork from the center of the bottom of the barrel and grains began to pour into the brown paper bag. He pointed with pride and exclaimed, “This is Quinoa”. He explained that the grain was a sacred food of his people that had tremendous powers of healing and felt certain I would be able to eat it.

When we returned back to his house, Shairy prepared the quinoa in a vegetable broth. I was surprised at how easy it went down and to my even greater surprise, that it stayed there ! Quinoa is high in protein and like oats it has essential amino acids. It’s gluten free and is a great source of fiber and iron and lots of other nutrients.

It’s easy to cook the Quinoa, just add one part of the grain to two parts liquid in a saucepan bring to a boil, reduce the heat to simmer and cover. One cup usually takes 15 minutes to prepare. If you want to have a nuttier flavor, you can dry roast it before cooking; to dry roast, place it in a skillet over medium-low heat and stir constantly for five minutes.

Quinoa 101 – Everything You Need To Know

What do you know about Quinoa? Do you have recipes you can share? Please leave a comment, I’d love to hear from you!