THE MOTHER GRAIN - INCA'S QUINOA A NUTRITIONAL POWERHOUSE

Every great ancient civilization produced a crop or a commodity which was central to its existence. For the Greeks it was wine and for the Romans it was wheat. A few thousand years from now anthropologists may look back at us and think it was the Big Mac. But whatever the case, for the Incas of South America it was a grain called quinoa (pronounced keen-wah).

Quinoa, of course, is not nearly as well known as wine or wheat, let alone the hamburger. And that's a shame. Once you sample its nutty taste, as I did on a recent sojourn to Peru, and realize that it comes closer than any other vegetable or animal to providing all the essential nutrients for living, you'll understand why it was considered sacred by the western hemisphere's greatest empire.

The Inca Empire, according to legend, was founded in the 12th century by Manco Capac, the son of the sun, who, along with his brothers and sisters, arose from Lake Titicaca and set out looking for the earth's navel. He established his capital there in the city of Cuzco, Peru, and by the time Columbus set sail, the Inca kingdom, inhabited by more than 6 million people, was the largest state in the New World.

The Incas are best known for their engineering feats (they built thousands of miles of roads through daunting terrain and diverse climates) and their architecture, but they were no slouches when it came to food production either. They were among the earliest peoples to develop agriculture, building intricate terraces on the Andes mountainsides to increase harvests. They probably invented peanut butter and perhaps even freeze drying too. Because they were able to produce enough food not only for themselves but also for the tribes they conquered, they were able to subjugate dozens of different ethnic groups throughout South America.

Inca cuisine revolved around three major ingredients -- corn, potatoes, and quinoa -- but quinoa was clearly the most important. It was listed ahead of potatoes in a 16th century inventory and, moreover, it can grow where corn never could, thriving at altitudes as high as 13,000 feet on as little as 2 inches of rainfall. It's also frost-resistant. No wonder the Incas called it "chesiva mama," the "mother grain." Packed in gold urns it was offered to the god Inti, the Sun.

Each year the Incan emperor planted the first quinoa seeds of the season using a gold spade, but archeological evidence from prehistoric tombs suggests the seed was a crucial part of the Andean diet long before the Incas built their empire, at least since 3000 BC. It may actually have been domesticated as early as 2,000 years before that.

Those ancient people knew what they were doing, for nutritionally quinoa is something of a "supergrain," though technically it's not a grain at all, that is, not a cultivated grass, but the botanical fruit of an herb plant, Chenopodium quinua, a distant relative of spinach (with similar green leaves). It has three times as much calcium and twice as much phosphorous as wheat plus a higher proportion of essential amino acids and more iron than many other cereals. It contains as much as 50 percent more protein than most other grains. In fact, the World Health Organization rates the quality of protein in quinoa as equivalent to that in milk. Not surprisingly, NASA has considered its use in longer duration space flights. Perhaps quinoa explains why the Incas were reputed to live to 100 or 120 years of age.

Though not genuinely a grain, quinoa is essentially treated as one in cooking. Looking like a cross between sesame seed and millet, it can be substituted for just about any grain, including rice and couscous. And it can be used in all kinds of dishes including desserts. It makes a great variation, for example, on rice pudding. In the Andes they use it in soups and stews and in breads. A traditional dish is made by boiling it in water laced with llama fat. It goes well in salads and it makes an excellent pilaf, especially with dried fruit, nuts, herbs, or cheese. In Cuzco they make a drink out of it, adding corn, rice, cinnamon, anise, cloves, and sugar. In the past it has even be used as an ingredient in beer.

Quinoa couldn't be easier to cook. The process is the same as for making rice, except quinoa cooks in only half the time and expands to four times its original volume. Toasting quinoa in a dry skillet for five minutes before cooking adds to the flavor. It's essential that quinoa be thoroughly rinsed before cooking to rid it of any residue of saponin, a bitter coating that protects it from birds and insects and from the sun at high altitudes. It may be that the Spaniards did not realize this and therefore never saw in quinoa the potential they saw in corn and potatoes, even though they were well aware of the grain. Because quinoa has a higher fat content than other grains, it is more perishable, so it's wise to store it in the refrigerator. Bring it to room temperature before cooking.

While there are dozens of varieties of quinoa, there are essentially five basic types, categorized by where they grow, from the interandean valleys high above sea level to the salt flats of Bolivia. Most of it is imported from South America, but some is now being cultivated on the slopes of the Colorado Rockies. It's readily available at health food stores and in some supermarkets. If you've never eaten quinoa, you ought to give it a try. One taste and I think you'll agree that, to put it in Quechua, the official language of the Inca Empire, quinoa is "sumaq mihuna," good food!

Nutty Quinoa Salad

This recipe, adapted from The New Basics cookbook by Julee Rosso and Sheila Lukins, substitutes quinoa for the customary wild rice. The result is a lighter salad that's perfect for hot summer days. It is best served at room temperature.

Ingredients:

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/4 cup sesame oil

3 green onions, bulb and 3 inches of green, sliced

1/2 cup roasted peanuts

1/2 cup mandarin orange sections

2 tablespoons chopped mint

2 teaspoons grated orange zest

Directions:

Place quinoa in a fine strainer and rinse under cold running water. Drain thoroughly. Bring quinoa and water to boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer 10 minutes. Add raisins and continue cooking until all liquid is evaporated, another 5 minutes. Spread mixture out on platter or baking sheet and allow to cool completely. Combine with remaining ingredients, tossing gently. Serves 4-6.

Listen to A Harte Appetite Friday mornings and Saturday afternoons on KRCU, 90.9 on your FM dial. Write A Harte Appetite, c/o The Southeast Missourian, P.O. Box 699, Cape Girardeau, Mo., 63702-0699 or by e-mail to tharte@semovm.semo.edu.