Plant · P-703

Quinoa

Chenopodium quinoa

Quinoa is an annual Andean grain crop grown for a gluten-free seed carrying about 19 percent protein and a well-balanced amino acid profile, along with young leaves that cook like spinach. A deep taproot reaching nearly two meters makes it drought tolerant once established and lets it crop on poor sandy ground. The twist growers run into is heat, not cold: pollen turns sterile once temperatures during flowering climb past about 90 to 95 F, so a warm summer can leave a healthy-looking plant with no seed at all. Even the bitter saponins coating the seed have a second job - washed off and sprayed onto the growing crop, they double as a bird and insect deterrent.