Quiunoa then and now.

[hoodat]

In early Spring I posted these pics of my experimental quinoa patch. This is what it looked like then.

This is what it looks like now. It's leaves are turning Autumn gold and dropping off and the heads are brightly colored. In fact the entire plant is so bright that it hurts your eyes to look at it in full sunlight. Even if it wasn't such good food I'd grow it as an ornamental. A bonus is that tiny parasitic wasps and lady bugs come for the pollen. At the left rear of the picture is a stalk of black seeded Simpson lettuce I'm letting go to seed for my Fall crop. In all the time it's been planted not a single pest insect or disease has shown up. Even the snails avoid it.
I had only hoped for enough seed to replant a larger patch in the Fall but it looks as though I'll get quite a bit to eat.

 

[baymule]

Wow Hoodat! That quinoa is gorgeous!! It is so colorful that I had to put my sunglasses on!

 

[hoodat]

The best price I've found in the stores is $3.50 a pound from the bulk bin so it's well worth the time to grow and actually it took almost no care.

 

[baymule]

I bought it in bulk from www.feedadam.com It came to $3.40 with shipping per pound. I packed it in food saver bags and put them in a bucket. It tastes better than rice!

 

[hoodat]

I'll probably vacuum pack mine once I'm sure it's as dry as I can get it. A week or so in my garage should do that. I'm told typical grain beetles and moths won't bother it so long as the soapy coating is still on it. I won't wash it off till I'm ready to cook it.

 

[baymule]

Post pics of your harvest!

 

[hoodat]

I'm not quite sure when to harvest. I presume I wait till all leaves have dropped off and the stem begins to dry but I'll keep an eye on it and harvest right away if any seeds seem about to get loose. If anyone has experience harvesting it I'd be glad for some advice.

 

[897tgigvib]

I grew it last year Hoodat. I did little tests by stripping off the top inch or so of one of the stemlets near the top.

When ya get seeds that look like they are mature, but still have some color, I found that was a good time to harvest that head.

Cut the top off and remove any leaves and set it to dry if it needs to. Once it is basically dry, you'll want a good sized rubbermaid box, mine are something like 30" by 16", 14 or so inches deep. I cut off each stemlet first, then I either stripped it through my fingers, and or rubbed it through the palms of my hands. Whatever is most fun or what it takes. After doing them all, then you winnow them. Do a few short ones first to get an idea of the weight and to decide if it'd be best to let them dry another day first. I got some of mine a bit too soon. Wanted to get more light to my Anasazi Beans, but they were ok too.

Yours look now around May 1st what mine looked like early September, but my variety of Colorado Quinoa had other colors too.

 

[hoodat]

Thanks Marshall. The heads are still pretty tight so I think I'll wait awhile. I'd like to have that spot for my purple pole beans but I don't want to ruin things by trying to harvest too early. I know the seeds on the shoots take longer to develop than the main head.

 

[Smiles Jr.]

Are there different ways to prepare Quinoa for the table? How does a person cook it and eat it? I don't think I've ever seen it growing anywhere.