Quinoa is a cous -cous like grain, which has been eaten locally for 5000 years. It is classified as a grain but is technically the fruit of a leafy plant.
Cultivation was maximised during the period of the Inca Empire when it was important culturally as well as nutritionally.

Quinoa, pronounced keen wah, was one of the three staple foods, along with corn and potatoes, of the Iinca civilization.
In the Quechua language of the Incas, it is the chisiya mama or "mother grain"; in Spanish, it is quinoa, trigo Inca.

Each year the Inca emperor, using a golden spade planted first Quinoa seeds of the season, and at the solstice, priest bearing golden vessels filled with quinoa made offerings to Inti the sun.
The grain thrives at high alttitudes of approximately 9,000 to 13,000 feet above sea level, the plant can survive on as little as two inches o rainfall and is frost resistant.

Quinoa, a seed grain of the Chenepodium family, it has a superior nutritional profile compared to other grains. It is a complete protein containing all the essential amino acids as recognised by the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations.

Its adaptation to cold, dry climates, seed processing similarity to rice, and excellent nutritional qualities make this a crop of considerable value to highland areas around the world which are currently limited as far as crop diversity and nutritional value.

Interest in the crop has revived since about 1975, with increasing areas being planted in South America and markets for the grain being developed in the USA and Europe, initially as a 'health food' but also more recently as a supplier of materials for industrial uses. Industrial interest centres upon the small starch granules, whose properties differ from those of cereal starches, and additionally upon the saponins found in the seedcoat, which must be removed before the grain is used as a food.
Quinoa's protein is of an unusually high quality. It is a complete protein, with an essential amino acid balance close to the ideal ... similar to milk!