cold quinoa / stoveless quinoa

[ben .]

hey all

i’m thinking of going stoveless for an upcoming trip and was wondering if anyone has found a purveyor of quinoa that rehydrates adequately in cold water.

i don’t have a dehydrator, though i did buy some of outdoor herbivore’s “instant quinoa,” which i gather is partially cooked & dehydrated. but after 30 minutes in cold water, it was still too crunchy for my tastes (and i don’t mind a bit of crunch).

i gather there is something called ‘quinoa flakes’ that is more of a porridge thing, but lacks some of the nutritious nature of ‘normal’ quinoa that drew me to it in the first place.

any thoughts appreciated, there is surprisingly little about this i’ve found online.

thanks!

[Window walker]

How ya been Ben?

I have never tried cold soaking quinoa but maybe a longer soak would do it. Maybe mid-day start hydrating, you could even use the “crotch pot” method to add some heat to the soaking process. And yes, cooking and dehydrating would most likely be the best way.  You can get a Nesco Dehydrator for a fair price. Bet investment I have made is buying a dehydrator to make my own bping meals (I have an Excalibur).  You could also try sprouted quinoa, I believe it has more nutrients and such because it is sprouted and might be easier to re-hydrate.

[ben .]

hey other ben

yeah, i’m just not that familiar with going stoveless yet. though i’m aware of the all-day rehydration thing, i was picturing soaking dinner while setting up camp (i.e. 20-30 minutes), but it certainly doesn’t have to be that way. i’ll definitely give it a try with a longer soak and see if it eventually comes to life.

[Lester Moore]

Ben, I’ve dehydrated cooked red quinoa and it seems to rehydrate quite well and quickly. Even faster still is couscous, maybe not as nutrition-dense as quinoa, but a similar consistency.

[ben .]

hey lester, just to be clear, you rehydrated it with cold water?

[Ken S]

Wonder if anyone resolved this? I usually put some water in my peanut butter jar and soakable dinner about 2 hours before dinner and it gets stirred up a little while I hike.

I’m interested in some reasonable quinoa preparation (I’d prefer not to purchase a dehydrator etc. but may if I must) I can rehydrate by soaking.  I’ve seen freeze dried (expensive but may do the trick)?  Would dehydrated quinoa require a boiling water soak? Does “Instant Quinoa” work?  Thanks

[Matthew / BPL]

FD Quinoa would be amazing. I didn’t know that existed until now. Has anyone tried it?

[Adam Holbrook]

I had a few cold soak failures that I tried on my section hike this weekend.  They were Knorr pasta and or pasta and rice sides.  I’m going to be experimenting with minute rice and grains like quinoa prior to my next trip.  I’ll be following along here and if anyone has a good reference for cold soak times on food that would be cool.

I found that Ramen does great cold soaking and takes 30min or less, so it’s pretty quick too.

[Bill Segraves]

I’ve tried the quinoa flakes and didn’t find them too appetizing.  Maybe palatable as hot cereal, and a nice ingredient in muffins, but as cold mush, not so great.  For stoveless, I make meals of either couscous or potatoes, with things like parmesan cheese or jerky mixed in to add protein, or a mug of milk as an accompaniment.  Quinoa’s a little better than couscous nutritionally, but not enough better to make my meal list.

Bill

[Adam Holbrook]

I tried cold soaking one of the Near East boxes of couscous I think it was the Roasted Garlic in olive oil.  It rehydrated fine, but it needed something else with it.  Perhaps some salami or maybe even sun dried tomato?  It wasn’t all that appetizing on its own.  It didn’t take very long to rehydrate similar to ramen noodles maybe a half an hour.  I think I ended up adding about just the amount of water that it called for in the instructions which was a little over a cup for the box.

I need to test some Quinoa next to see if it’s any better/ worse.

 

[Matthew / BPL]

I’ve never tried it cold soaked but couscous with FD broccoli or spinach is great. I cook it with a Trader Joe’s chicken stock packet and some olive oil. I’m envisioning it like tabouleh when eaten cold.

[Adam Holbrook]

Matthew – That’s what I’m looking to try next time.  It rehydrated fine, I just didn’t care much for the flavor packet in the one I tried.  It was too much of the same thing, it just needs some other flavors and or textures to go with it.

[Tipi Walter]

On my last trip I got heavily into a Quinoa kick and brought it out raw and uncooked but had a stove.  It’s one of the few grains you can bring to a boil and place in your pot cozy and in 30 minutes it’s soft and fluffy and edible.

Here’s one thing you could try—Get an electric coffee mill and grind up the quinoa to a powder and add cold water in the field, with salt.  It should be edible.  And pasty.

[Adam Holbrook]

@tipiwalter. No thank you. I’ll stick to more appetizing options and or bring a stove.  I haven’t found many cold options that work for me. I’d like to find a few more that do work, but I’m not going out to practice being miserable.

[Sarah Kirkconnell]

I had a question posed to me last week from a reader on quinoa. Myself, I don’t eat much of it – the sappions (can’t spell that) in it (even if the brand is washed) pose a threat to those with food allergies (my youngest son) so we quit eating it. However, if you like it, go for it. Your best bet will be to cook it and dry it at home, you don’t need a dehydrator though: just oven dehydrate on parchment lined baking sheets, stir often.

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