Quinoa

Quinoa is the edible seed of an Andean broadleaf plant, eaten and cooked like a grain but botanically a pseudocereal — kin to spinach, beet and amaranth rather than to wheat or rice. Cooked, the flat disc-shaped seeds swell and turn translucent, the germ uncurling into a pale, springy little ring around each grain, giving a fluffy texture and a mild, nutty, faintly grassy taste. It is naturally gluten-free, unusually rich in protein with a near-complete amino-acid profile, and prized as the "mother grain" of the high Andes.