The potential of quinoa as a multi-purpose crop for agricultural diversification: a review

Abstract

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is an annual grain crop which was a staple food in the Andes before the Spanish conquest of South America, and which in recent years has attracted renewed interest for its high nutritional value. It has a higher protein content and a better balanced protein composition than do cereals, supplying high levels of lysine, histidine and methionine + cystine. Quinoa starch has much smaller granules than do cereal starches, has a lower amylose content and is more viscous. These differences should make it suitable for some specialised industrial uses, including manufacture of a carbohydrate-based cream substitute. The grain of most varieties also contains saponins, bitter compounds which have to be removed by washing or abrasion before consumption, but which are biologically active in several potentially valuable ways. Cultivation of quinoa in Europe will require the development of short, non-branched, early maturing varieties with large, white, low-saponin seeds. Quinoa is tolerant of drought and low soil fertility, and may be of value in Europe as a break between cereal crops and after potato crops. When grown in the areas to which it is best adapted, it should be able to compete with cereals in both human diets and animal rations. © 1992.