Quinoa, a plant with "unique" characteristics!

Increasingly widespread even among Western eating habits, quinoa is a plant with practically "unique" characteristics.

Almost. It is not a cereal (even if it appears so), it is rich in proteins, it is a mine of energies, it boasts excellent beneficial properties and even manages to manage autonomously and intelligently its exposure to the sun, as recently confirmed by a tricolor study.

Quinoa a super food that never ceases to amaze

Selected in 2013 by the UN, which has identified it as a symbolic ingredient to counter hunger in the world thanks to its rich quantity of proteins, minerals, fibers and vitamins, and a little later by NASA, which instead has ascertained its usefulness central to the diet for astronauts, it is certainly not wrong to define quinoa as a " super food ".

Even the well-known portal Inran.it has included quinoa in the list of superfoods thanks to its high vitamin content.

Understanding the reason for such success and such emphasis is certainly not difficult. To begin, for example, with the high protein content of quinoa, equal to 14 grams on 100 grams of product.

To continue, perhaps, with its high content of essential amino acids such as lysine, twice as much as it does on wheat and rice, or methionine, which can positively contribute to the metabolism of insulin.

It also contains a good proportion of minerals and vitamins, with particular reference to magnesium, vitamin C and vitamin E.

A versatile ingredient for everyday recipes

Its great versatility also enriches the possibilities of consistent and frequent use of quinoa within its diet.

Quinoa is the ideal partner for salads, soups, casseroles, and it is sufficient to buy the one readily available on the market to be able to use it immediately, after a short cooking.

In this regard, it should be noted that quinoa seed packs that can be purchased in the best supermarkets and in organic stores are generally "clean" from the external coating.

However, it is not excluded the possibility of buying the "raw" ones, still covered with saponin, a bitter substance that protects the seeds from the attack of the birds.

Precisely for this reason, quinoa seeds should be washed before cooking, in order not to invalidate the delicate flavor of the vegetable with the particularly strong flavor of saponin.

It is not a cereal, even if you approach it

Quinoa is often able to arouse discreet confusion in the less cautious people and, in the same, a bit of surprise when its prominent features are listed.

Originally from South America, it is often mistakenly defined as a cereal : "guilt" - if one can say so - not only of its external appearance, but also of the fact that, like many cereals, it is very rich in starch.

In reality, however, quinoa belongs to the grass family and - besides - to look for a relatively close relative of this plant, we should move towards spinach, so much so that the leaves of the plant can be cooked in a similar way, as well as their taste is similar.

An "intelligent" reaction to sun exposure

That the quinoa plant has characteristics of specific interest is also demonstrated by a recent Italian study, which wanted to investigate the particular biological mechanism that allows quinoa to be better protected from the sun, resisting with particular effectiveness before the heat and, therefore, surviving much longer than it does with other plant species.

To find out what the "secret" of quinoa is, the researchers started from the assumption that the increase in ultraviolet B can influence plant growth and metabolism.

The quinoa was then exposed for 30 minutes to 1.69 W m-2 UVB, noting that this exposure did not result in serious alterations on photosynthetic pigments and flavonoids and that, on the other hand, a significant increase in capacity was observed antioxidant.

When, on the other hand, the exposure has increased to 60 minutes, the above parameters have been greatly reduced, while there has been an increase in the de-epoxidation of the pigments of the xanthophyll cycle.

But what does the above mean? Briefly, the results of the research coordinated by Professor Lorenzo Guglielminetti, from the Department of Agricultural, Food and Agro-Environmental Sciences of the University of Pisa, suggest that quinoa would be able to modulate different response mechanisms, depending on the exposure to rays UVB .

In other words, quinoa reacts differently depending on the solar radiation, introducing some physiological and metabolic adaptations that contribute to slowing down the natural degenerative processes that are due to the action of UVB rays. A confirmation - if there was any further need - of the extraordinary uniqueness of quinoa.

In short, quinoa continues to amaze and attract its final consumers and researchers alike, with the first evidently interested in hoarding its beneficial properties, and the latter ready to reveal some new and unknown characteristics of a food which, after all, still has a lot to share.