Quinoa Field
Before traveling to South America, I’d only enjoyed quinoa in it’s simplest form, as a cooked grain. I’d never seen quinoa plants, enjoyed warm quinoa drinks or sweet quinoa desserts. This changed when we went to Bolivia. We saw the beautiful, colourful fields of quinoa during our Uyuni salt flats tour. The quinoa fields in this area are known for being resistant, having adapted to salty and alkalidic soils. They have bitter seeds and a high percentage of proteins. We learned there are more than 1800 varieties of the super grain. I had no idea quinoa came in more than one colour. There is white, pink, orange, green, red, purple, and black quinoa.
In Uyuni, we found some chocolate puffed quinoa cereal and quinoa bars by Pronaal. They made for delicious snacks. We ate them for breakfast and throughout the day as we needed a sweet, super grain fix.
Chocolate Quinoa Cereal
Quinoa Bars
In Sucre, Bolivia, we scored a bunch of sweet vegan finds at the Drogueria Natural. We found, puffed quinoa snacks, quinoa granola bars and quinoa cereal.
Puffed Quinoa Snacks
Quinoa Energy Bars
Puffed Quinoa Granola
Powder drinks, made from quinoa, flaxseeds, coconut, Brazil nuts, peanuts and corn are very popular in Bolivia. We tried the quinoa drink powder and mixed it was some hot water. It’s like drinking a thick, nutty tea. It’s pretty delicious, though a little weird, and likely very nutritious.
Chica de Quinoa
A Variety of Powdered Drinks
These are just some examples of how quinoa is used in Bolivia. In Argentina, we ate a restaurant that had quinoa empanadas, but we didn’t get to try them because they were made with cheese. If you visit Bolivia, you’ll have no problem finding interesting quinoa snacks.
6 Comments »
I am a big fan of quinoa myself and I remember eating quinoa soup on Lake Titicaca. It was so comforting.
I had no idea quinoa grew in such plants. Thanks for the picture, I find it is gorgeous!
I think they are onto something over there! This is awesome.
How did I miss this post last night? You really got to experience quinoa in a big way, didn’t you? Lucky you! :-) I had no idea it came in all those colors either! I only knew about red and white quinoa. And all those snacks made from it… and power drinks? Hey, we’re being seriously deprived here on the quinoa front! Now I’m going to be on the lookout for quinoa in other colors! (Wonder what a bowl of all the colors mixed together would look like!)
Those plants are really beautiful. They’d make nice edible landscaping in the right places!
@Laloofah – Quinoa is an amazing grain, isn’t it?! We were totally spoiled with choices. We have quite a few quinoa snacks popping up in Canada but nowhere near the amount or variety you can find in South America.
I run a grocery department for a small wisconsin/illinois chain….we carry red, white and black quinoa….just curious if any other colors are available in national or specialty brands and what those may be….help?
@Ben Sorry, I’m not sure where to find exotic varieties of quinoa. I was a bit confused when I found out there were so many colours because I’ve only ever seen red and white in stores. I know black quinoa is out there, but it’s hard to find.
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