Quinoa is a grain that has been cultivated for thousands of years in the west Andes Mountains of South America. It was a staple food of the ancient Inca people. Quinoa was such an important food of the ancient Incas that they considered it the “Mother Grain.” The quinoa plant is notably hardy and drought resistant. They bear seeds in a cluster on top of the plant and during the fall the color of the plants can range in color from bright oranges to vivid reds and unique purples. The ancestral seed color of quinoa was black and the other colors have been obtained from mutations and breeding. 

The quinoa seed, about the size of a millet grain, resembles the grain of some cereal grasses, but it is not a grass. The seeds are coated with a saponin which has a bitter taste. This bitterness is removed by washing with water or with a dry polishing process. Before the consumption of quinoa, these seeds should be rinsed to remove any of the saponin dust that may remain on the seeds. 

The seed of quinoa is an excellent food, rich in protein and high in fiber. The protein is well balanced and is particularly rich in the amino acid lysine, which is difficult to obtain from other vegetable sources. It is also high in calcium, phosphorous, vitamins B and E. Quinoa is a versatile food plant that can be cooked in many ways and tastes excellent. 

Chenopodium quinoa is a member of the goosefoot family which also includes amaranth, spinach, and the common edible weed lamb’s quarter. The starch content of quinoa is between 58 - 68% and the amylose content of the starch is about 11 - 12%. An interesting aspect of this starch is the relatively small size of the starch granules of 0.5 - 0.8 microns which is much smaller than maize and wheat. This granule size is not ideal for making dough or pasta, but might prove to be great for fermenting!

White Mountain Farm in Mosca, Colorado has been growing quinoa in the San Luis Valley since the early 1980s. They have installed significant infrastructure to allow widespread growing and facilitate seed cleaning. The valley floor has an elevation of about 7500 ft and the arid climate is well suited to the low water requirements of quinoa. 

In 1982 Drs. Steve Gorad and Dave Cusack were some of the first to introduce quinoa to North America. With the help of Colorado State University, nonprofit Sierra Blanca Associates, and a few hard working individuals, quinoa is now widely available to consumers. By bringing quinoa seeds back from various locations in Bolivia and Peru, the growers and researchers at White Mountain Farm were able to run many successful (and unsuccessful) trial crops. They faced challenges of temperatures (too high and too low for some varieties), growing season length, and some varieties never going to seed. The San Luis Valley experiences cooling monsoon rains, usually arriving in mid-July, just as the quinoa begins to bloom. This makes it possible for the plants to set seed. 

Dune Valley Distillery operates in the newly refurbished 1930s-era gymnasium and community hall that once hosted the first Sangre De Cristo School. They share this property with Colorado Quinoa/White Mountain Farm. The crops utilized in the creation of this beverage were grown in the surrounding fields and the seeds were cleaned in a new three-story, state-of-the-art cleaning plant on the property. 

Dune Valley built a straightforward malting floor in the middle of the distillery and had promising results with their initial malting of a seed grade (non-washed) quinoa. After washing and rinsing off the saponins and letting the water slowly drain off, the seed seemed to be extremely viable and leaped towards life under relatively cool temperatures. Nick mentions that the aromas of sweet grains filled the building and that the flavor was vegetative like a microgreen with the characteristic nuttiness he expects from quinoa. 

Drying the malted quinoa before mold set in was the next big challenge for Dune Valley to overcome. Since they do not have a more technologically advanced method to accomplish this, the current plan is for batches to go straight to the mash tun after sprouting.