Note 271 — Chapter XL

The quinua (Chenopodium Quinua L.) is cultivated in the higher parts of the Andes of Quito and Peru, and is probably the hardiest cereal in the world, growing at the greatest elevation above the level of the sea. Velasco mentions two kinds, the white and red. The former is a small white round grain, extensively raised on the cold lofty mountains, and yielding good food; the latter, a very small round red grain, only eaten toasted. Garcilasso de la Vega mentions quinua as having been extensively cultivated by the ancient Peruvians, both for the sake of the grain, and for the leaves, which they use in soup. He sent some seeds of it to Spain in the year 1590, but they did not come up. In Quichua the cultivated plant is called quinua; the green leaves, lliccha; the plant growing wild, azar; a pudding made of quinua grains, pisque; and boiled quinua grains, dried in the sun and ground into a coarse powder for food on a journey, quispiña. At harvest time the stalks are cut and tied up in bundles, and the grain is then beaten out with sticks. It is an insipid and not very nutritious grain.

Ulloa gives the following account of the quinoa. It resembles a lentil in shape, but is much smaller and very white. When boiled it opens, and out of it comes a spiral fibre, which appears like a small worm, but whiter than the husk of the grain. It is an annual plant, being sown every year. The stem is about three or four feet in height, and has a large pointed leaf. The flower is of a deep red, and five or six inches long, and in it are contained the grains or seeds. The quinoa is eaten boiled like rice, and has a very pleasant taste. It is used in external applications, ground and boiled to a proper consistency, and applied to the part affected, from which it soon extracts all corrupt humours occasioned by a contusion. Ulloa’s Voyage, i, p. 290.