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Quinoa, the Belle of the Passover Ball
Contributed by Kendahl Damashek

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Though quinoa has been an important food in South America for over 6,000 years, its popularity in North American cuisine is much more recent. While it appears to be a grain, and is often prepared that way, quinoa is actually a vegetable, a member of the goosefoot family, which includes beets, Swiss chard, spinach and amaranth. For vegetarians, vegans, people on gluten-free diets and those who are lactose-intolerant, protein-rich quinoa is a Passover godsend. But of course, it’s not that simple. Because of their flavor and cooking similarities to grains, quinoa seeds are often lumped in together with the other banned grain crops. Not all rabbis agree. According to some, the one major problem with quinoa — and more broadly, all Kitniyot, even today — is the issue of not knowing whether there has been some cross-contamination with the grains on the do-not-eat list during the growing, manufacturing and packaging process. Some rabbis maintain that quinoa’s close similarity to the prohibited grains is reason enough to keep it off the Seder table. Still others say that because quinoa grows in the high altitude of the Andes, where Chametz does not grow, there is no problem. As long as the quinoa is processed in a factory that does not also process grains, many rabbis believe that it can be Kosher for Passover. While the rabbis argue, those with gluten allergies, who can’t risk any sort of contamination, have resolved the issue by obtaining quinoa products that have been processed in a way that meets many Passover criteria. So now Ashkenazi and Sephardic families alike have added quinoa to their Passover repertoire, and in 2008Gourmet magazine hailed it as the new “belle of the Passover ball.” Generations from now, this South American staple might come to be known as the “Jewish grain” in much the same way as some call macaroons the “Jewish cookie.”
haggadah Section: Shulchan Oreich
Source: http://diy-dev.archer-soft.com/node/23988/edit

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