By Doug Schnitzspahn

Next time you feel low on energy and want a bowl of pasta, tap into the wisdom of the ancients instead: Consider a meal cooked with quinoa, amaranth, or teff. Not only do they form the basis for a wide range of palate-pleasing meals, they provide the nutritional punch of meat and lack the allergy problems of modern-day grains like wheat. Nutritionally, “quinoa, amaranth, and teff contain lysine, an amino acid missing from most grains [like wheat, corn, oats, and rice],” explains Jennifer Lovejoy, PhD, dean of the School of Nutrition and Exercise Science at Bastyr University. “This makes the protein in the grains a complete protein, similar to meat. It’s a great choice for anyone who wants to add that protein to their diet without adding the fat found in meat.”

Each member of this healthy trio is packed with complex carbohydrates, iron, fiber, magnesium, and calcium. Quinoa, especially, contains higher levels of magnesium than mainstream grains, while amaranth has almost twice the iron levels found in wheat, and teff far outdistances other grains in calcium content. Plus, all three are gluten-free. “People with celiac and gluten allergies should have no problem with these grains,” Lovejoy says.

Quinoa, the power grain
The poster child of gluten-free grains, “quinoa is a wonderful, light, fluffy grain that really sucks in the juices and flavor of whatever you cook with it,” says Susan O’Brien, author of Gluten-free, Sugar-free Cooking (Marlowe and Co., 2006). “And it’s so versatile. It can be used in cold summer salads, mixed with peaches, molasses, and walnuts, or stuffed in a Thanksgiving turkey.” Quinoa comes in 1,800 subtly different varieties, with the taste varying from almost nutty to slightly acerbic and a color palette ranging from off-white to red to black that makes it ideal for festive mixes. Milled into flour, this workhorse grain seamlessly substitutes for mainstream flours in anything from pasta to bread to cookie dough. Wash the quinoa thoroughly before cooking it, however, to rinse off the saponin, a bitter resin that keeps birds from eating the crop.

Beyond its gastronomic cachet, quinoa is also a sustainable crop, growing in harsh, high-altitude conditions, like the Andes and Colorado’s Rockies, that prove too difficult for other grains. Cultivated in South America for more than 5,000 years, it was the staple food of the Incan empire. Despite being banned by conquistadors in an effort to stamp out indigenous culture, quinoa survived and today flourishes.

Pop goes the amaranth
Although nutritionally similar to quinoa, amaranth is not yet popular in the US. It should be. A slightly toasty, nutty grain often milled into versatile flour, amaranth has a heavier texture and stronger flavor than quinoa, making it perfect for hearty meals. “It’s great for thickening sauces,” says O’Brien, “and amaranth flour is good for breading fish or chicken.” She suggests cutting amaranth flour with quinoa or sorghum flour, however, since it can overpower a recipe.

Amaranth kernels will pop like popcorn into healthy puffs, which are mixed with honey and sold on the streets of Mexico City as a snack called alegría. And some Peruvians make a beer called chicha from amaranth seed.

Cultivated and revered for millennia by the Aztecs (who mixed it with honey to bake ceremonial cakes), amaranth, like quinoa, outlived the conquistadors who destroyed the crop ... [continue to next page]