QUINOA SACRED SEED.

Quinoa of today comes to us from the flowering fields in the Peruvian and Bolivian deserts in the Andean Mountains of South America. The plant flourishes in the most hostile conditions, surviving nightly frosts and daytime temperatures upwards of 40C (104F). It is a high altitude plant, growing at 3,600 meters above sea level and even higher, where oxygen is very thin, water is scarce and the soil is so saline that virtually nothing else grows.
Quinoa belongs to the same family as the sugar beet, spinach and chard. This is referred to as the goose-foot family. Botanically, they are very similar. So quinoa isn't really a grain at all. It is actually a seed.
Because quinoa is part of the goose-foot family, it is a useful little plant. Its leaves can be eaten like spinach and the seeds can be cooked like rice, which is why quinoa is gluten-free. While no single food can supply all the essentials life sustaining nutrients, quinoa comes and shows why it is being called a complete protein. It contains all 9 of the essential amino acids, which cannot be made by the body and therefore must come from food. Its exceptional nutritional qualities led Nasa to include the seeds  as part of its astronauts diet on long space missions.
Quinoa, a broad-leafed aesthetically unique and beautiful plant, can germinate from 3 to 9 feet tall, or a little be higher than the height of a human. The seed heads can be just about any color like red, purple, orange, green, black or yellow and the stalks are a deep magenta.
Quinoa can grow in areas not generally thought to be very fertile because of its temperature preference. Quinoa plant is able to grow in very poor soil condition without fertilizer or irrigation but temperature is important. The plant prefers cooler temperatures and short days and can handle mild frost. It may not germinate if the temperature is too warm, but when conditions are favorable the plant germinates within 24 hours and produces seedlings within 3 to 5 days. Because of its fast germination, the plant needs a dry harvest. It is ready when the plant dries out, turn pale yellow or red, and lose all their leaves. At this point, the quinoa seed should be able to be barely dented that can be harvested easily by hand in a manner of combing the seed head. Those dried seeds are coated with a compound that would taste pretty bitter if the seeds are not properly soaked in water and then rinsed.
Quinoa is then a super crop and has a majestic history among one of the most powerful civilization on the American continent.
Quinoa originated in the high land mountains of Bolivia and Peru. It has been at the forefront of these regions for 10,000  years. It was a staple for the Incas and is still a prominent food source for their Andean descendants, the Quechua and Aymara people.
Quinoa was a sacred crop to the Incas who called it the mother of all grains or "Chisaya Mama". A legend states that the Inca emperor would ceremoniously break the ground with a golden tool and plant the first quinoa seed every year to show respect for what the plant provided to them.
During the European colonization of the Inca land, the Colonists scorned the quinoa as "food for Indians," going as far as actively suppressing and forbidding its cultivation. The plant fought its own war against the odds and flourished once again, finding its way onto our plates today.