Quinoa

• 1. Introduction

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  Quinoa, the seed crop of the high Andes, once carried a grand nickname from the Incas: chisiya mama, which in Quechua means mother of all grains. Botanically, that title is generous. Quinoa is not a grass and not a true cereal. It is a pseudocereal, closer kin to spinach and amaranth than to wheat or rice. Its seeds have long fed people in South America, and they now draw interest far beyond it.

  This documentary asks how a plant with such a tangled family tree learned to survive frost, salt and thin air. It asks why its seeds taste bitter until they are cleaned. And it asks what happened to the farmers of the Andes when the rest of the world finally noticed.

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• 2. Family Tree

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  Carl Ludwig Willdenow, a German botanist who lived from 1765 to 1812, was the first to describe Chenopodium quinoa as a species. He worked from South American plants that the explorers Alexander von Humboldt and Aimé Bonpland had brought back to Europe.

  The genus name Chenopodium joins two Greek words, one meaning goose and one meaning little foot, because the leaves resemble the track of a goose's foot. The species name reached science through the Spanish quinua or quinoa, which comes from the Quechua kinuwa.

  Quinoa is an allotetraploid. That means it holds two full sets of chromosomes from two different species that hybridised long ago. A 1979 study named its likely ancestor as either Chenopodium berlandieri of North America or the Andean species Ch. hircinum. More recent work tells a different story. Andean and Mexican quinoas were domesticated independently, and both descend from wild North American C. berlandieri, which carries the genome formula AABB. That ancestor probably arose several million years ago, from a hybridization between two diploid plants related to the modern C. subglabrum and C. suecicum. The wild South American ancestor, C. hircinum, may have travelled north to south by way of animals. A feral, weedy form called Ch. quinoa var. melanospermum grows in South America, but nothing like it has been reported for Mexico's Ch. nuttalliae.

  Geneticists count three bottlenecks in quinoa's past, with a fourth possibly coming. A bottleneck is a narrowing that strips away genetic diversity. The first came at the species' birth, when hybridization and chromosome doubling isolated the new plant from its parents. The second may have come with domestication, which might have happened twice, once in the high Andes and once in the lowlands of Chile and Argentina.

  The third bottleneck is called political. For more than 400 years after the Spanish conquest, maize pushed quinoa aside. Its social and religious roles for indigenous peoples may have worked against it, and it is also harder to dehusk than maize.

  A fourth bottleneck may arrive in the 21st century as traditional farmers move from rural zones to cities. Breeders who aim for uniform cultivars could narrow diversity further. Cross-breeding between local landraces, the traditional varieties adapted to their home places, has produced high-diversity cultivars and will likely keep doing so.

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• 3. Built for Altitude

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  A mature quinoa plant usually stands 1-2 metres tall, with broad, lobed leaves that are often powdery and hairy. The woody central stem may be green, red or purple, and it branches in some varieties but not in others. Small green flowers gather in clusters called panicles, at the top of the plant or along the stem. They mostly pollinate themselves, though cross-pollination does occur. The seeds measure about 2 millimetres across and range from white through red to black, depending on the cultivar.

  Quinoa grows from coastal regions to above 4,000 metres in the Andes near the equator, and most cultivars sit between 2,500 and 4,000 metres. Depending on the variety, the best conditions are cool, with nights as cold as minus 4 degrees Celsius and days near 35. Light frosts rarely harm the plant, with one exception. A midsummer frost during flowering, which is common in the Andes, leaves the pollen sterile.

  Rainfall needs vary widely among cultivars, from 300 to 1,000 millimetres during the growing season. Growth is best with steady rain early on and dry weather while the seeds ripen and are harvested.

  Royal Quinoa, called Quinoa Real, grows in the Intersalar region of Bolivia, between the Uyuni and Coipasa salt flats. That setting combines high altitude, salt, intense ultraviolet radiation, aridity and sharp temperature swings. Some studies of quinoa's newly noted salt resistance point to two tools. Organic osmolytes help the plant adjust to salty conditions and protect the photosynthetic structures of young leaves from oxidative stress. A drop in stomatal density, meaning fewer pores on the leaf, helps it use water efficiently.

  Sandy, well-drained soil with few nutrients, moderate salinity and a pH from 6 to 8.5 suits quinoa best. The seedbed needs good preparation and drainage to avoid waterlogging.

  In Peru, the traditional sowing season ran from September to November, because the seeds need a good deal of rain to germinate. Farmers sowed by broadcasting, in rows or grooves, or by broadcasting and then making rows. Weeding followed soon after.

  Andean farmers rotated quinoa with potato, cereals and legumes, including Lupinus mutabilis, in plots called aynoqas. Each family owned plots of different sizes in different zones. This arrangement improved yields, ecological and agricultural sustainability, and food security within communities.

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• 4. Cradle and Near Loss

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  In the surroundings of Lake Titicaca, in the Bolivian and Peruvian Andes, quinoa is believed to have been domesticated from wild or weedy populations of the same species. People first used it to feed livestock between 5,200 and 7,000 years ago. Human consumption began 3,000-4,000 years ago in the Lake Titicaca basin.

  Pollen evidence from Lake Pacucha in Peru adds detail. Plants of the amaranth family became abundant when the lake was fresh. Their absence strongly suggests droughts that turned the lake into a saltmarsh. Pollen linked to soil manipulation marks this area of the Andes as one where quinoa domestication became popular, though not the only one. The plant was domesticated in several geographical zones, and five ecotypes, or locally adapted forms, exist today.

  Andean agronomists and nutrition scientists began researching quinoa in the early twentieth century. By the 1970s it had drawn wide interest among researchers of neglected and underutilized crops.

  Chile preserves a separate branch of the story. Several pre-Inca South American cultures began adapting quinoa to salinity and other stresses, and people in Chile have continued that work for the last 3,000 years. The Chinchorro culture grew it near the coast of northern Chile. The crop also reached the lowlands of south-central Chile early on. Lowland varieties there derive from ancestral cultivars and evolved in parallel with highland ones.

  Suggested dates for that introduction differ widely, from about 1000 BC in one study to 600-1100 AD in another. In colonial times, quinoa was cultivated as far south as the Chiloé Archipelago and the shores of Nahuel Huapi Lake. The cuisine of Chiloé included quinoa bread until at least the mid-19th century.

  By the early 1940s, quinoa had almost disappeared from Chile. As of 2015, only some 300 smallholder farmers grew it, mostly in three areas that differ from one another. Indigenous small-scale growers near the Bolivian border raise many Bolivian forms. A few farmers in the central region grow only a white-seeded variety and usually sell through a well-known cooperative. In the south, women grow it in home gardens in Mapuche reserves.

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• 5. Bitter Coat and Harvest

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  A coating of bitter saponins covers quinoa seeds in their natural state, and most grain sold commercially has been processed to remove it. In the field, the bitterness works in the plant's favour. It deters birds, so the crop needs little protection.

  In South America, saponins also serve as a detergent for washing clothes and as a folk antiseptic for skin injuries. Their toxicity rating treats them as mild eye and respiratory irritants and a low gastrointestinal irritant. The leaves and stems, like those of related plants in the amaranth family, carry high levels of oxalic acid.

  In the Andes, quinoa is traditionally harvested by hand and only rarely by machine. The reason is uneven ripening. Different panicles on a single plant mature at different times, and a badly timed harvest loses seed to shattering. Andean yields often run around 3 tonnes per hectare and can reach 5, which is comparable to wheat. In the United States, varieties selected for uniform maturity are harvested with conventional small grain combines.

  Processing begins by letting the plants stand until stalks and seeds dry and the grain's moisture falls below 10%. Threshing separates the seedheads from the chaff, and winnowing removes the husk. The seeds must be dried again before storage to prevent germination. That drying was traditionally done by hand, and it is labour-intensive.

  The quinoa genome was sequenced in 2017. Through traditional selective breeding and possibly genetic engineering, breeders aim for higher yield, better tolerance of heat and biotic stress, and sweeter seeds through saponin inhibition. Sweetness is hard to breed because about 10% of pollination is across plants. Even so, lowering the saponin level remains a major goal of quinoa breeding programs.

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• 6. Boom and Bust

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  In 2004, the wider world began to take real interest in quinoa, and the plant entered an economic cycle of boom and bust that lasted more than ten years. Between 2004 and 2011 it became a more attractive commodity. At that point Bolivia and Peru were the only major producers.

  In 2013, imports by the United States, Canada and several European countries rose sharply. The Guardian presented the rising world demand as a result of rising veganism.

  Between 2006 and 2013, quinoa crop prices tripled. In 2011, the average price was US$3,115 per tonne, with some varieties selling for as much as $8,000. Wheat sold for about US$340 per tonne, which put its value at roughly a tenth of quinoa's.

  Production spread fast. Only eight countries grew quinoa in the 1980s. By 2013 it was cultivated in some 70 countries, and by 2015 more than 75.

  The San Luis Valley of Colorado, a high-altitude desert, received quinoa in 1983. Summer maximums there rarely exceed 30 degrees Celsius, and nights are about 7.

  In the 2010s, experimental production began in the Palouse region of Eastern Washington, and farmers in Western Washington started growing the crop. The Washington State University research facility in the Skagit River Valley near Mount Vernon grew thousands of its own experimental varieties. The climate of the Puget Sound region resembles that of coastal Chile, where quinoa has grown for centuries. Short growing seasons in North America call for short-maturity varieties, typically of Bolivian origin.

  In Idaho, a variety bred for the high-altitude Snake River Plain is the largest planted in North America. Several European countries have also grown quinoa on a commercial scale.

  Then the price plummeted, starting in early 2015, and it stayed low for years. Growth in imports slowed in 2016, though imports still rose. Peru's production fell by 22% from 2018 to 2019. Some call this episode the quinoa bust, citing the devastation the price fall caused for farmers and industry.

  In 2023, world production reached 112,251 tonnes. Peru supplied 62% of the total and Bolivia 37%.

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• 7. Winners and Losers

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  A 2016 study drawing on Peru's national household survey, the Encuesta Nacional de Hogares, found that rising quinoa prices from 2004 to 2013 brought net economic benefits to producers. Other commentary reached similar conclusions, including for women specifically.

  Yet rising prices over 2006-2017 may have made quinoa less affordable for traditional consumers. It has also been suggested that producers who rise above subsistence income switch to processed Western foods, which are often less healthy than a quinoa-based diet. The reason may be that quinoa seems too valuable to keep for the family, or that processed foods carry higher status. Some areas are trying to widen access, using free school breakfasts and government provisions for pregnant and nursing women in need.

  Research on traditional producers in Bolivia stresses that the picture is complex. How much a farmer gains from the boom depends on the mode of production. Options include producer associations and co-operatives, such as the Asociación Nacional de Productores de Quinua, founded in the 1970s, contracting through vertically integrated private firms, or wage labour. State regulation and enforcement may push some farmers toward cash-cropping and others toward subsistence. It has also enabled many urban refugees to return to working the land.

  In the Uyuni salt flats, mechanized production and the clearing of vegetation for quinoa fields have degraded the soil. Poorer yields and lower environmental health followed. Some fields in the Andean regions of Bolivia and Peru have become quinoa monocultures.

  Climate change amplifies the signs of desertification. Drier and hotter weather harms quinoa production, increases the pests that attack it, and lowers the nutrient quality of the soil. Research shows quinoa prefers warmer temperatures and alternating irrigation, yet the randomness of weather under climate change has hindered the development of quinoa crops.

  Wider concerns include food security for the indigenous original consumers and unsustainably intensive farming. Farming has also spread into marginal lands, with loss of natural environment that threatens both producer agriculture and quinoa's biodiversity. Studies of traditional smallholder farming in the Peruvian Andes found significantly less carbon produced than in modern industrial production.

  Some studies indicate it may be more productive to grow quinoa in Washington State, and in China, than in its native regions.

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• 8. Plate and Ceremony

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  For the Aymara and Quechua communities of the Andean Altiplano, quinoa was historically a subsistence food that appeared in almost every meal of the day. Growing it represented food security and well-being. The Spanish devalued it when they colonized the region.

  A 100 gram serving of raw quinoa seeds is 13% water, 64% carbohydrates, 14% protein and 6% fat, with 1,539 kilojoules of food energy. It is a rich source, meaning 20% or more of the Daily Value, of protein, dietary fibre and several B vitamins. The figures include 46% for folate, 55% for magnesium, 95% for manganese, 65% for phosphorus and 33% for zinc.

  Boiling, the usual way to prepare the seeds, changes the numbers. Cooked quinoa is 72% water, 21% carbohydrates, 4% protein and 2% fat, with 503 kilojoules of energy. It remains a rich source of manganese at 30% and phosphorus at 22%. It becomes a moderate source, between 10% and 19%, of fibre, folate at 11%, iron at 11%, magnesium at 18% and zinc at 11%.

  Quinoa is gluten-free. Its protein makes it a possible alternative to meat for vegetarians and vegans, and for people who are lactose intolerant. Some studies suggest that eating it may help improve early indicators of type 2 diabetes.

  The United Nations General Assembly declared 2013 a year recognizing the ancestral practices of the Andean people. They preserved quinoa as a food for present and future generations, through knowledge and practices of living in harmony with nature. The aim was to draw attention to quinoa's possible role in food security, nutrition and poverty eradication, in support of the Millennium Development Goals. Some academic commentary stressed that quinoa production could have ecological and social drawbacks in its native regions, and that these needed to be tackled.

  In the Jewish community, quinoa is used as a substitute for the leavened grains forbidden during Passover. Several kosher certification organizations refuse to certify it for Passover. They cite its resemblance to prohibited grains, or fear of cross-contamination from nearby fields or during packaging. In December 2013, the Orthodox Union, the world's largest kosher certification agency, announced it would begin certifying quinoa as kosher for Passover.

  NASA's Controlled Ecological Life Support System, a program for long-duration human-occupied space flights, has selected quinoa as an experimental crop. The reasons are its high protein, its many micronutrients, its versatility in preparation and its potential for increased yields in controlled environments.

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