Is Quinoa Gluten Free?

Quinoa is a fantastic food full of nutrients and vitamins. Quinoa is a vegetable protein that



the body finds easy to break down and digest. It also has a far lower fat content than most



meat.

For people who need to follow a gluten free diet regime the good news is that standard quinoa



grains are gluten free. Quinoa grain can be included into your diet easily and you can be



sure that as long as the other ingredients are also gluten free there will be no problem.

There are however quinoa food products where it is not quite so clear cut. Quinoa flour and



quinoa flakes are processed quinoa and cannot be guaranteed gluten free.



The problem comes because some quinoa manufacturers use the same factory to produce other



flours. This means that there can be some cross contamination with wheat flour products.

Obviously if your gluten problem is not too severe then you could probably cope with this



slight risk. (No promises here – check with your doctor)

You hear of people reacting to nuts so violently that it can be a concern but quinoa doesn’t



have the same level of reaction that nuts do.

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If you are merely gluten intolerant rather than allergic to gluten this will not be a problem



for you. Using Quinoa flakes in particular is a very flexible way of eating quinoa. More recipes



and cooking methods are coming out all the time.

Quinoa Flour is much harder to use in normal baking without adding ordinary flour. There are



quinoa bread makers but this is like rye bread and is quite heavy. But if you like rye bread



you will enjoy quinoa bread. In the UK both Tesco and Sainbury’s occasionally have stock of quinoa bread.

The good news however is that the standard form of quinoa as “grains” is gluten free. It is also very



high in essentials proteins and vitamins. Quinoa is good for you!

More and more suppliers of quinoa are pre-washing the quinoa which means that most or all of



the bitter saponin coating has been rinsed off before being packed.

As well as the health benefits of quinoa, we have found it to be easy to cook and very



enjoyable to eat.

Source by Ken H Jones

via Paleohacks Paleo Cookbook Review http://ift.tt/1uudVNE