Interesting to find quinoa here in my cross-Substack explorations. I grow about 25-30 lbs of quinoa per year at a home scale, after growing 1000+ lbs per year at a seed company scale, and I have a little document with cleaning tips. Feet on a tarp (to thresh), a fan (to winnow), a shop vac (to de-husk), and a washing machine (to de-saponin) work wonders.
I have also designed a winnowing machine though it's a bit above a home scale and I don't currently ship overseas, but quinoa is pretty easy to winnow once you get the husks off the seeds with the shop vac. (Remaining husks will come off in the pillowcase-in-washing-machine step.)
Great to see you back, and a rich read, as always. So glad you have swans - how I love them on the river here. Great news on the kiwi fruit. Can we now go back to calling it kwinowa?
Jan, I had been thinking - IF there are still some ripe ones - to make that for you and A when you come over. I won't promise though... Quinoa?? Spit. X
I've been itching to grow quinoa. I'll definitely keep your experience in mind when I experiment with it.
Yeahhhh. I wouldn’t…But if you succeed, I do, or perhaps don’t, want to know ;-)…
Interesting to find quinoa here in my cross-Substack explorations. I grow about 25-30 lbs of quinoa per year at a home scale, after growing 1000+ lbs per year at a seed company scale, and I have a little document with cleaning tips. Feet on a tarp (to thresh), a fan (to winnow), a shop vac (to de-husk), and a washing machine (to de-saponin) work wonders.
https://luterra.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/Quinoa.pdf
I have also designed a winnowing machine though it's a bit above a home scale and I don't currently ship overseas, but quinoa is pretty easy to winnow once you get the husks off the seeds with the shop vac. (Remaining husks will come off in the pillowcase-in-washing-machine step.)
Oh hello and THANK YOU! Really useful; and you manage to process 25-30lbs a year yourself? Impressive.
I very much appreciate the PDF.
Great to see you back, and a rich read, as always. So glad you have swans - how I love them on the river here. Great news on the kiwi fruit. Can we now go back to calling it kwinowa?
Lovely comment, Keith. Thank you. As for the pronunciation, well - I'll follow your lead! ;-)
I was ready to try to grow quinoa till I reached the end of the article! I’ll have another go at spinach. So glad to read about the swans. Xx
Yes, Marg! I suspect it might be like a (much less challenging) version of chidlbirth: by next year I'll probably have forgotten the travails!
Spinach, now, is a star on every front. And EASY! xx
kiwis sound amazing. Quinoa sounds like huge labour!
Jan, I had been thinking - IF there are still some ripe ones - to make that for you and A when you come over. I won't promise though... Quinoa?? Spit. X
What a wonderful discovery of those luscious kiwis!
Hello Lisa - oh it was! Hope you're doing OK now?
Just in case you want a second go, I shall be offering A Bowl of Clear Water again next month.
I'll look forward to that sorbet recipe!
Thank you, Anne! It'll come.