Not to mention all the different ways you can turn it into a salad. Since quinoa has become such a staple in our diet, we thought it was time to know where those tiny seeds come from. In other words, how does it grow? Quinoa is harvested from tall green plants.
While the plant sprouts are slow-growing at first, the plant eventually shoots up to and beyond three feet. The two are closely related, which means that the leaves of quinoa are also edible so if you grow your own, feel free to toss them into a salad.
Quinoa thrives in cooler weather, and is extremely drought tolerant. It can also tolerate high levels of salt, wind and frost, which allows it to be cultivated in high risk areas.
The part of the quinoa plant that we typically eat is the seed. Remember, quinoa is a seed and not a grain. It will also resist light frosts, especially when the soil is dry. Quinoa, much like amaranth, prefers sandy loam that is well drained.
It prefers moderate salinity, with a pH ranging from 6. Planting can be done either by hand or with a row seeder, and the crop should eventually be thinned to 6 to 18 inches apart. While quinoa is usually grown in rows, it can also be broadcast. To determine which method is best, check the nearest field research for recommendations. When the plant approaches a foot in height, it will grow more rapidly and close in its canopy, allowing it to shade out weeds and reduce evaporation based moisture loss.
Weeding can likewise be discouraged through cultivation or mulching. Amaranth cultivars and different quinoa cultivars will cross over, so each separate cultivar should be grown with as much distance between them as possible. Quinoa is ready for harvest when the leaves have fallen and only the dried seed heads remain. Seeds can be simply stripped upwards off of the stalk with a gloved hand.
In the case of frost, a seed past the green stage will probably not be damaged, and harvesting can happen a day or two later. However, extremely hot weather and warm nights can prevent fruit set. Near germination, the weather needs to be watched, since rain can cause the dry seeds to germinate. If the heads are not completely dry, they can be harvested when the seed can barely be indented with a fingernail. These seeds should be thoroughly dried before storage.
Quinoa should be cleaned with screens, by winnowing, with a fan, or with other blowing devices. The seeds should be stirred occasionally until as dry as possible, then they can be stored in an airtight container in a cool, dry place. Quinoa grains have a bitter saponin coating that deters birds and insects from eating them and that needs to be removed before consumption.
This can either be accomplished by polishing — which removes the saponin coat but also refines it like white rice, white flour, or pearled barley — or washed in a three-step process that cleans the saponin without removing vital nutrients. Polished quinoa has half the fiber of washed quinoa, along with lower protein, vitamin, and mineral levels. The saponin that is removed has commercial uses as pharmaceutical steroids, soaps, detergents, shampoos, cosmetics, and synthetic hormones.
We must plant the tiny seeds at a very accurate depth to ensure that they emerge successfully. The seed germinates very quickly but is initially slow to establish into a full crop until we get some warmer weather. We use mechanical weeding in the young crop to control weeds without the use of artificial herbicides. This most often involves the use of a tractor hoe, which cultivates the space in between the quinoa rows helping to reduce the number of weeds present.
This is a tough job, requiring a steady hand and excellent concentration to avoid damaging the young quinoa seedlings. During the Summer each plant will begin to flower, after which the seeds will soon begin to develop. The seeds start off being very small and full of water, but as the summer progresses they begin to swell and become much denser. This is an exciting stage as we can finally see all of our work start to come together. Once the quinoa crop has fully matured and the seeds have dried out in the Summer sun, a combine harvester is used to collect the seeds from the head of the plant.
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