Because it's chilly? That's the cherry on top. not spoiler, teaser, at the end of this episode, let's say between the end and before listener mail, that's agreeable to you.

At the 43-minute mark. We

are going to taste Soylent for the first time live on the air. Yeah. I guess I should have thought this

through. I took them out of the fridge already, so we've got 43 minutes for it to warm up. Should we put them back?

Well, I wouldn't,

you know, I wasn't going to say anything. Then I was going to say something. Should I put them back? Well, it's probably best cold, don't you think? Okay, well hang on everybody. So yes, we're going to try Soylent eventually in this episode. That's

right. I'm

excited. To

try Soylent or to talk about quinoa?

Both.

Okay. So

Chuck, you just kind of gave it away alongside the title. Sure. We're talking about quinoa today, not quinoa. No. Quinoa. That's right. But. It's a superfood. Yes. Some say. Yeah. I mean, you can make a pretty good claim that it is a superfood. And what is a superfood if not a type of food that has a lot going on just in and of itself? Yeah, it's super. Yeah. Like blueberries are superfood. Or acai berries. Superfood? Yeah. Or acai berries. Yeah. Algae. I didn't know algae was. Oh, yeah. I buy that. Hemp seeds. Sure. Chia seeds. Yeah.

A lot of nuts. Ritz crackers. I don't know. No. Those are just super. Right. Super delicious. And buttery. Yeah, with my crab dip especially.

Oh, I'll bet. One day maybe I'll find out. What,

you just want me to bring you crab dip? Yeah.

Give me a cooking lesson.

So quinoa, there are at least 120 varieties, and it is nothing new. It's been around. In fact, we might as well delve into a little history here. Yes,

let's.

It's been cultivated for, geez, more than 5,000 years. I

saw up to 8,000 years. Wow. That's more than 5,000. Sure. Well, I guess we could say more than five years. Right. More than the last six months, quinoa has been around on this planet.

Yeah, and it's an Andean plant and specifically originated around Lake Titicaca in

Peru. Yeah. In Bolivia. In the Altiplano.

Yeah, it's wonderful. Wonderful

area. Have you been? Oh, no. But just look at photos. Sure. Machu Picchu. Yeah. You're like, well, look at that place. Exactly. One day, maybe. I'd like to go for sure.

But there is historical evidence of it being domesticated, like we said, maybe as long as 8,000 years ago. And they even saw in ancient tombs, they saw little archaeological drawings and things, what they think is quinoa.

So

people were ingesting it and using it as a superfood way back when.

Yeah, and the fact that it grew up there or grows up there, and not only grows but thrives up in this high, rocky, I think pretty much arid plateau that's also very cold. It doesn't make any sense that you'd have anything but alpacas and llamas up there. But in fact, there's a plant that's one of the most nutritious foods on the planet that just so happens to thrive up there in Bolivia and Peru in the highlands. That's pretty awesome. It is. And so, of course, they have used this for thousands and thousands of years. And it wasn't until, I think, the early 20th century that it really started to make its way for the first time out to the United States. I think the USDA got their hands on it and tried to get farmers to grow it here in the States. And they said, nah, let's give it another 100 years maybe, a little less.

Yeah, I mean, the 21st century is when it really kind of became popular. Right. And even in the last, geez, mid-2000s, you can even talk about it being trendy? Well, supposedly, the

whole trend for quinoa, which, by the way, in typical Stuff You Should Know fashion, has already come and gone, and now we're doing an episode on it. Oh, it's not gone. Are you sure? Oh, yeah. Okay. Well, do you know how quinoa hit the map, hit the scene? Well, in a lot of different ways. I assume you think it's one thing only.

Right. Oprah. Yeah, she had something to do with it for sure. She

was on some sort of cleanse diet in 2008, and she ate quinoa and mushrooms, I guess. And everybody was like, what is that? She's like, oh, you've been calling it quinoa. It's quinoa. And they said, well, we have to try this

now. Yeah. She definitely was a factor. Oprah, her reach is wide. It is. But it doesn't reach me. Are you not an Oprah fan? No, I think she's fine, but I didn't learn about quinoa from her or

anything else. Where'd you learn about quinoa then?

Just, you know, I think the time I had it was in a restaurant. So to me it spread because chefs started using it. Because they watch Oprah. Yeah, exactly. Chefs don't serve anything unless Oprah eats it. She's patient zero. Here in the United States, you know, I talked about at least 120 varieties. You're more than likely going to be eating the red, red, white, and blue. No, red, white, or black varieties of quinoa. And do you eat it in your home? I guess we'll get to this stuff, but I'm curious if you've cooked with it a lot. Not

a lot, no. I've

had it here or there. I've had it in a couple

of restaurants.

So this stuff is known as an ancient grain, but it's not exactly a grain, and it's not exactly a cereal. It's classified technically as a pseudo cereal. Right. Like Fruity Pebbles. That's 100% cereal, baby. They just came out with cinnamon pebbles. Oh,

I'll bet those are good.

Yeah.

You could make cinnamon old shoes and put them in a cereal box and it'd be good. But quinoa

technically is a pseudo cereal. It comes from the goosefoot plant.

Right. That's why it's not a cereal. Cereal is a grain that comes from a grass. Yeah. And goosefoot's not a grass. It's a plant.

No, and it looks kind of weedy. And as we'll see later when you're cultivating, it looks alarmingly like some other weeds. Weed weed.

It can be tricky. With a capital W. Oh, it looks like marijuana? A little bit. From afar? Huh. That brilliant red and brilliant yellow.

Isn't that what

marijuana looks like when it's growing? I'm

not sure you know what marijuana is. I'll show you a picture sometime. Okay. It is labeled a whole grain, though, because it's actually, it fits the whole grain definition because it is the whole grain seed which you're eating. Yeah,

like when you talk about grains, usually, again, you're talking about these things from grasses like wheat, right? Yeah. And there's such a thing as whole grain wheat. But once we process something, once we mill it or – Shell it. Smack it on the bottom, whatever you do to them, you're actually removing certain parts of the grain, right? So with like enriched white flour, that's – you've taken a whole wheat grain and you've removed the bran and the germ and you've just got yourself the endosperm still. And the endosperm is what's used mostly to produce white flour. Yeah. And that's great. It's full of like quick, easily digestible carbs, but a lot of the nutrients are lost. Actually not easily digestible for many people. That's true too. Yeah. But a lot of the nutrients are lost in the process. So even if you can digest it, no problem, you're not getting most of the nutrients that were there in the first place. With a whole grain, it's got the bran, the germ, and the endosperm, and they're all working together to make you vastly healthier than you would be if you're just eating the endosperm like you do in white flour. Yeah. And quinoa

in particular is really weird. When you look at it, it's closer. You wouldn't think so, but it's closer to chard and beets and spinach. Right. Than it is anything else. Yeah. It's crazy.

So imagine if like from spinach plants we got not only the leaves, but also the seeds turned out to be whole grains. That's what's going on. It's a weird plant. It is. It shouldn't grow where it grows. It shouldn't be a cereal. It shouldn't be a grain. It shouldn't be related to beets. It shouldn't be delicious. But it is. That's right.

And it's super, super good for you. Like we're saying, it's a super food. And one of the reasons, and another thing that makes it very strange, is that it has a ton of protein, which is pretty unusual for a plant to have this much protein.

Yeah, this article made that point, but I went and looked. There's a lot of other plants that have pretty good amounts of protein in them. What rivals quinoa in amounts? Edamame, black beans, lima beans, chickpeas all beat it by a mile. I just thought it was weird because not only did this article say it, I ran across it elsewhere too that they were like, it's amazing how much protein it has in it. It has a decent amount, especially for a plant, but just not like eye-popping or anything like that. You think it's hyper I kind of poo-pooed that one. Okay.

What it does have, unless you think this is not true as well.

Well, I'll be the judge of it.

At least 10 amino acids. That's good, right? Or is it bad, too? I guess it's okay. No, it's chock-full of amino acids, which are great for your body because our body cannot make amino acids. So we have to get them from food sources. Well,

it can't make essential amino acids. It can make non-essential amino acids, but the essential ones we have to get from food. And quinoa is in a very small group of plants that are complete sources of protein, meaning that they have all of the essential amino acids that we need in them. Yes. You don't find that in plants very frequently. No. That's

what helps make it a superfood. Exactly. It's not very high in calorie. No sugar, no cholesterol, no sodium. What else?

Zinc? It's got a lot of zinc. It has a lot of potassium, too. Apparently, it has the most potassium of any food plant that is around. Potassium is really good at regulating blood pressure. Yeah. Because potassium is in charge of things like fluid retention and electrical conduction throughout cells.

I think just compared to grains, there are plenty of other fruits with potassium.

Oh, okay. Is that what it was?

Yeah, like bananas are loaded with potassium. Are

they? Yeah. Or is that the work of Edward Bernays?

No, bananas are really good for you. What else? Fiber, magnesium, folate? Yeah, that's good. Gluten-free? Well,

that's a big one, man. So it's very commonly touted as a gluten-free food, grain, which is good for people who have celiac disease. But apparently they've tested. There's at least, what did you say, 120, 150 varieties?

120, yeah.

That are in agricultural production right now. Yeah. And somebody tested a bunch of them, and they came up with at least four that created a celiac response. Oh, really? Yeah, so you've got to be careful. For the most part, they are gluten-free, but there are a few varieties out there that can touch off the old celiac response well

i think one of the deals though is we're not seeing those in the marketplace though which is one of the we'll get to it but it's one of the potential problems is we're only eating like three or four right of the 120 varieties yeah and i think those are for sure gluten-free. Okay. Like if you go to your grocery store. Right. You're not going to see 120 varieties of this stuff.

I don't know, man. You

know? Yeah. You're

probably right. All

right.