Quinoa

Right on, Chad. Only problem is that it takes a while to cook. Don't know if you could cook it at all at higher elevations, at least not in a reasonable amount of time. Maybe you could cook it at home and then dehydrate it?

I experimented this afternoon. I boiled it, then pouched it. It worked ok, but I think cooking it up then dehydrating it and boiling it would work well. Organic to boot . . . this might be worth keeping.

At home I usually cut my white rice with quinoa for the boost. I’ll add some dried herbs and a bay leaf for a spike. But check out this link.

Dehydrating Rice Problems

Good Luck!
-Michael

I've carried this seed-grain on l-d hikes, but never seemed to properly digest it, judging by next morning's, uh, report. In any case, lightweight and low volume though it is, the energy return just never materialized. I'm back to pasta dinners now, with the occasional dehydrated refried beans.

Quinoa-corn blended pastas are available at many health food stores – easier to cook than straight corn pasta and slightly more edible.

This grain is great but a common mistake is not cooking it long enough to let it soften and expand loosing it's bird seed consistency. I put it in the blender and grind it down into a powder or close to it. It will reconstitute much easier this way, just add boiling water and let it sit in a cozy for a few minutes and presto!

Quinoa is an awesome grain. Check this Wikipedia Article out. It suggests soaking the grain to remove saponin. Also note the high potein content and complete essential amino acid profile. I like it with saute veggies, salt/garlic/oil, and a little soy sauce.

Chris,
Genius idea! Definitely a keeper for me. You exponentially increase the surface area of the grain exposed to hot water by grinding it, which may be the key to using it at higher elevations, not to mention reducing fuel use at any elevation. Still have to rinse a few times to remove the saponin, as mentioned by a previous poster. Not doing so was probably the cause of an even previouser poster's negative report the morning after the night
before:{

Chris,

Are you grinding the quinoa before first cooking it? And then not bothering to dehydrated it at all, just bring the powder and cozy cook it on the trail? Interesting, does it come out like polenta, like a hearty mush?

-Michael

Just to be clear, the issue for me wasn't indigestion, but lack of digestion. QIQO (quinoa in, quinoa out) And that's regardless of cooking method – I did experiment. In any case, great idea in theory, quinoa for me, but it just didn't fuel the glycogen stores overnight the way pasta does.

Here is what I do:
1.) Throughly Rinse (uncooked) Quinoa
2.) Let it sit out overnight on paper towels so it dries out again. (make sure it is dry before grinding it.)
3.) Grab a blender and dump in 1/4 to 1/2 cup of raw Quinoa grain, grind until the consistency you desire is reached. I like mine to grind mine into a fine powder, but you can grind it just enough to break up the seeds, making cooking a lot easier to cook.

This grain is very versitile. I was shown that it can be used for breakfast (hot cereal, very good) lunch and dinner. By taking added spices and things, I found that my food weight was less and more satisfying. i used the red quinoa, already cleaned. It did take time to cook, but i used a minibull Nion2 on low simmer and set up camp, washed, and was ready to relax and eat when it was cooked.

It is also good to just toss a bit to other meals, like soups.

One of the best things about quinoa is it's pseudo-cous-cous texture. I'd be adverse to grinding it fine like Chris but I'd be interested to hear about any success with a light grind. I wonder how much that could reduce cooking time vs ruining the texture.

If you have a dehydrator make your quinoa dish at home and dry the whole thing. This saves cooking time on the trail as all you need to do is rehydrate it and heat it to eating temp. I also posted some tips about toasting the quinoa in the thread Sarah started about drying quinoa.

Here is a photo of the Quinoa Soup recipe from my cookbook…