Can You Grow Quinoa Plants From the Grocery Store Seeds?
Today I set out to answer the following question – can you grow quinoa from seeds available in the grocery store? I’m using the seeds from a 4 pound bag of washed quinoa that I purchased at Costco. We’ve been eating so much quinoa and I want to know if the seed I have is viable for planting. I would love to have more of this wonderful grain in my food storage and be more self-reliant.
So where do we start? The first step is to do some calendar planning.
Contrary to what you might think, quinoa is a cold weather crop. This means that the best time to start planting is in March and indoors.
I know my seed will store for at least 8 years and possibly longer if I take the time to keep some as seed and store it properly. As will be discussed later on in this article, quinoa is a great addition to your garden, indoor or outdoor. It is a super healthy seed to add to almost any recipe. Keep scrolling down for some classic and unique takes on how to utilize quinoa in great home cooking.
There are similarities between quinoa and amaranth seed. Quinoa, however, is a cool weather crop and amaranth is a warm weather one. Salt Spring Seeds has information about quinoa growing conditions, planting times, harvesting and threshing.
“Quinoa and amaranth are two very old, high-protein plants that hail from South America. They were held sacred in ancient Inca and Aztec cultures. Both now hold great potential for self-sustaining gardens in the northern hemisphere. They grow as easily as their weedy relatives (pigweed or lamb’s-quarters) and the quality of food they offer far surpasses that of our common grains. Traditional hand-harvesting methods can obtain bounteous harvests.”
SaltSpringSeeds.com
The Basics
The quinoa plant, when grown in average garden soil, will be four-feet to six-feet tall. By contrast, those grown in rich soil or compost may reach over eight feet tall. The plant responds best to a well-drained loam soil, but will do well in all but compacted clay soils.
This means that you’re really not that limited by your location. The price of quinoa has tripled in recent years due to its popularity. And although it tends to be grown in higher altitude and cooler regions, don’t worry if this doesn’t apply to you. You can always grow it indoors.
Quinoa grows best where maximum temperatures do not exceed 90°F (32°C) and nighttime temperatures are cool. For most southern Canadian and northern U.S. states, the best time to plant quinoa is late April to late May.
When soil temperatures are around 60°F (15°C), seedlings emerge within three to four days. However, when quinoa seeds are planted in soil with nighttime temperatures high above that, quinoa, like spinach, may not germinate. In this instance, it’s best to refrigerate seeds before planting.
You need to grow about 10 plants in order to yield one pound of quinoa seed. So, I decided to experiment with the seed by doing this simple seed proofing test.
The Seed Sprouting Technique:
- Take a paper towel and fold it into fourths.
- Wet the paper towel without wringing it out.
- Place 10 seeds in the middle of the wet paper towel.
- Cover the seed and place it in a Ziploc bag for the number of days your seed packet says it will take to sprout. Quinoa is supposed to sprout in 2-4 days.
- Congratulations! You have just created a mini greenhouse.
Use the wet paper towel test to proof your quinoa seed.
Grow Quinoa – the Seed Sprouting Results:
After two days, all 10 seeds from my paper towel package have sprouted. Now I know the supermarket seed is viable and will grow. I placed them in my new favorite place for sprouting seeds, a milk jug greenhouse, for further growing.
Take it from me, you can grow quinoa seed the same way!
You can grow quinoa seed from the grocery store – as long as you use unwashed or prewashed seed. However, you cannot use POLISHED seed. That process kills the seed’s chance of developing into a full plant.
Adopt the right mindset first. Treat it like any regular seed you might purchase. Start your seed indoors 3-4 weeks before last frost. Plant it to a depth equal to the size of the seed, cover it with good soil and sufficient water. Be careful not to flood your plant.
I will follow these growing directions from eHow (for planting outside) once they are big enough to transplant outside. Next, thin the quinoa so there is one plant every 16 to 18 inches in each row. Water the quinoa starting when the plants show two or three leaves, irrigating just until the soil is moist.
Quinoa is drought-resistant and only requires 10 inches of water each growing season. This is not much! So, again, go light on the water. Harvest the quinoa once the leaves have fallen off, exposing the dried seed head. Strip the seeds off the stalk by pulling up on the head with a gloved hand.
If and when my quinoa plants do flower, what are some things I can do with this healthy seed? First of all, what are the health benefits of quinoa?
The Quinoa Health Craze
The seeds are a very rich source in protein, and unique for being one of the only plants to contain all the essential amino acids. Also, it’s gluten-free, so you can make a whole lot of dishes for even the most diet restricted vegan friends and family members. For example, come Thanksgiving, try out this savory quinoa stuffing to impress your most hipster cousins from Portland and Seattle.
There’s more. Quinoa is loaded with fiber, so if you’re struggling to get your kids to eat their celery, this is a tastier alternative. Even children can get on board with a good quinoa stir fry, like this great quinoa vegetable melange from Trader Joe’s.
Vitamin B is another bonus ingredient inside quinoa, rounding this seed out to be one of the healthiest things out there, period. Quinoa is also rich in calcium, magnesium, and according to Healthline.com, can even help with weight loss. There have even been studies that demonstrate that the low glycemic values in quinoa make this a great supplement for reducing the effects of Type 2 Diabetes.
“As might be expected from a food that serves as a good source of protein and fiber, as well as a low glycemic index (GI) value, quinoa has raised the interest of researchers with respect to better blood sugar regulation, decreased risk of type 2 diabetes, and other aspects of metabolism related to blood sugar. Unfortunately, most of the studies in this area have been conducted on animals and we have yet to see a large scale study on humans enjoying quinoa as part of their regular food intake. We would be surprised, however, if quinoa did not turn out to show benefits for blood sugar regulation given its chemistry and nutrient-richness.”
WHFoods.com
This seed is truly a miracle food.
Health Facts About Quinoa
Let’s go on and see in a little more detail how this seed can benefit your body. Talking about health without mentioning the numerous benefits would be a wasted opportunity, so here we go:
Quercetin and Kaempferol
Vitamins and minerals aren’t the only thing that will improve your health when consuming quinoa.
Flavonoids are plant oxidants that usually get ignored by nutritionist despite the fact that they give you immense benefits.
Two of the flavonoids that you can find in quinoa are quercetin and kaempferol. just to name a few of their properties, these two are:
- anti-inflammatory
- anti-depressant
- prevent cancer
Although quercetin can also be found in cranberries, it’s much more prevalent in quinoa. So much so that the two plants aren’t even on the same chart. As for kaempferol, nothing even comes close to quinoa.
Perfect for People With Celiac Disease and Other Gluten Allergies
Out of all the food trends out there, the gluten-free lifestyle is often misunderstood. Gluten is simply an allergen, and avoiding it if you aren’t allergic to it can hurt you in the long run despite the short-term benefits.
However, if you have Celiac Disease, by all means, go for quinoa. It’s absolutely nutritious and you can use it to substitute all kinds of foods that contain gluten. And on top of that, if cooked the right way, it can be even more delicious than the food that it substitutes.
Useful For Diabetics
With a glycemic index of just 53, quinoa barely raises blood sugar levels, which can be useful for people that suffer from type 2 diabetes or obesity.
As such, it will do the opposite of fast foods and sweets: it will keep your hunger levels low and make you feel full much faster. This way, you can avoid putting on some extra pounds and keep your entire body safe from the nasty effects of diabetes.
Note, however, that quinoa ISN’T a replacement for insulin shots. So don’t throw away your medicine! We feel the need to mention this to avoid causing misunderstanding among our readers and subsequently harming them.
In any case, now that we’ve got the main health benefits out of the way, let’s take a look at a few tips of how to use quinoa for cooking certain dishes.
Cooking with Quinoa
Assuming my plants make it to flowering, what can I cook with quinoa? If you want the absolute mother-load list of quinoa recipes, our friends at CookingLight.com are way ahead of you with 50 ideas for quinoa foods.
Their lemon garlic shrimp with radish and green bean version is particularly tasty. If you’re concerned about the high cholesterol of shrimp, consider replacing it with tofu instead. Here’s a great recipe for homemade crispy tofu that can replace the shrimp in that recipe.
We have some more quinoa highlights from around the globe that are definitely worth sharing. If you want to keep it light and springy, ideal for this time of year, salads are great. This quinoa salad is as multi-colored as it is healthy. Tomatoes, greens, and quinoa combine with an explosion of nice flavors in this salad from Chelsea’s Messy Apron.
Feeling something a little heavier? Did you know that you can make your own quinoa burgers? It’s easy and delicious. All you need are some black beans, tomato, seasoning, and of course, quinoa. Read more here. These are a much healthier alternative to soy burgers, which often run high in unhealthy oils and saturated fats. Remember, it is always better to do it yourself when possible!
Craving Mexican food? You can keep it simple, healthy, and delicious with these tasty quinoa tacos from our friends at ACoupleCooks.com. They also have a good number of other really interesting quinoa dishes. Another one of their delicious options is the vegan take on Korean bibimbap, which involves a fried egg right on top of your quinoa salad.
There’s really no shortage of things you can do with quinoa. You can use it as a meat substitute, a salad topping, or a topping for almost any other dish.
The Future
It remains to be seen if my little plants will flower and set seed here in the Pacific Northwest. Quinoa is slow growing and matures in 90-120 days. Since it is a cool weather crop (and I definitely have cool weather), I’m going to experiment more with early planting. I will keep you updated on the progress. Until then, feel free to visit other useful gardening tips and tricks on this website.
Happy quinoa planting, and here’s hoping your plants will grow healthy!
PS -This seed proofing test also works well on old seed. By planting 10 seeds you can see the percentage of germination. If 9 germinate, 90%, if 4 germinate 40% -easy peasy!
Have you tried planting store-bought quinoa seeds on your own? Did you have any successes or failures that you want to share with us? How about quinoa dishes that you didn’t see mentioned here? We want to hear from you! Please add your ideas to our comments below.
I love the article, sorry to be reading it two years later! I’m an avid gardener and grow all year. I’ve been experimenting with more exotic choices such as dwarf banana plants, coconut tree, etc. I wanted to try quinoa and cardamom but I know my climate isn’t ideal. I too wondered if my Costco quinoa would sprout (so I didn’t have to order online and pay shipping) so I’ve added quinoa seeds to my recycled Keruig containers filled with peat moss and covered them with plastic wrap and placed them on my heating mat. I had one sprout within 24hrs! It’s January now and I figured I could nurse it indoors and in my mild Spring weather I could get them to mature and harvest before the brutal California Summer heat. If all goes well, I’ll do the same for the Fall.
Thanks again!
Hi Marina, thanks for stopping by – report back on the progress!
My wife and I live in Rossland, BC at an altitude of 1375 m. Two years ago we grew two additional experimental crops at higher altitudes than Rossland. Twenty-five plants were planted in Rossland, twenty-five plants at 1500 meters and twenty-five at 1610 meters. The soil at all three areas were planted as is to see if the quinoa would grow in our native soil without the addition of any soil enhancements. All three locations produced quinoa remarkably well. Our back yard crop at 1375 fared the best and produced very healthy and large heads. We watered it twice during a three week hot spell but, other than that, we left it to do its own thing.
The two crops at the higher altitude were damaged by early frosts, (last week of August) but still produced heads to maturity. We harvested the seeds from our last year’s backyard crop and will grow this years crop from those seeds. Hopefully, the seeds that have been produced at our altitude and in our native soil will produce a strong, local crop that will eventually evolve to adapt to our native soil,altitude, and climate and grow a strong and large headed plant.
Les Anderson
Excellent news Les! I think my quinoa growing days are over now that I live in Texas…
Wow, you did head south in a “BIG” way. I worked down there on a pipeline project in the early eighties and lasted two weeks. I couldn’t handle the heat.
If you want to edit my previous post for better grammar, please feel free to do so. I was in a panic to get somewhere else and just banged out the post and ran.
Near the Great Lakes, I’m growing quinoa after good results with amaranth. Cool spring nights seem to make the plants happy. An addition to your note about thinning – you can eat the sprouts down to the nub; after the stalks get fibrous, the leaves are still good for cooking. So thinning is an early food source, not just making space!
Thanks Mark, good to hear from the growing “trenches”!
Fascinating article and comment, too.
I did a test plot of quinoa here in zone 7 Central Virginia. I planted mine in a quart-sized yogurt tub and then transplanted them into the garden. Good thing I did because the plants look nearly identical to our native goosefoot weed. The heads are forming now but hot weather is upon us. We’ve had higher than average rainfall this summer which I think helped a lot by keeping the soil cool and moist. Here’s hoping the seedheads mature!
Hi! I am in my 2nd year trying to grow quinoa between Vancouver Bc and Whistler, about 100 feet above sea Level. We have cool wet weather normally. Last year my crop did ok but it got moody before I could harvest the seeds, the leaves didn’t really fall off, they whole plant went brown….last year we had more rain and this year we have had record heat and a drought….the plants have done well this year….they are in a different garden plot and I planted them in a row instead of a square….I think my problem is our late summer rain, which is also not good for the tamotoes…..I was looking for info on best ways to harvest and get the seeds, so thanks for this. good luck to you all!
Hi Teresa, You could try this publication for harvest information…http://www.backyardbeansandgrains.com/uploads/7/1/8/6/7186781/quinoa.pdf
Hi! Thanks for writing such a clear article. I’ve looked at a few sources that I wouldn’t have been able to interpret if I hadn’t known a *lot* of jargon.
I wanted to make a note about growing seasons for quinoa, because it is drastically different in the various regions of N America.
I grew up in NW Washington (San Juan Islands) and had to do some serious adjusting to the growing seasons here in North Carolina. Out west the spring/summer months are indeed cool enough for quinoa (usually…) Not here. It’s mid-September and I’m about to get my quinoa seeds going. We don’t see snow every year, and even hard frosts are fairly unusual. So, in this region we can reasonably expect to be able to harvest a frost-tolerant cool-season crop like quinoa into December. (My dad threw up his hands on greens for a few years, just because most won’t grow in the heat/humidity of NC spring/summer.) We’ll see plenty of frost, but it won’t be cold enough, or last long enough, to damage the really tough cool-season plants.
I didn’t believe NC was considered *sub*tropical when we first got here. 90F and up days? 80% and up humidity? Surely, if anything is tropical, this is it! But, that was hurricane season… The winters are more like Pacific Northwest springtime. With less precipitation.
–Sunshine, Triangle area, NC
sir I want quenova seeds for cultivation in gardenhow get it?
Purchase organic seed at your local grocery store. They will not have been treated and should sprout for you.
We are on Vashon and want to try growing this? Did you get any to harvest? Thanks!
Unfortunately, I did not get a harvest. Now I live in Texas and It’s much too warm.
Vachon Island ? Might be difficult with humidity and salty air. But give it a try. I am growing very successfully in Western Oregon but 50 miles from coast.
Vashon Island, sorry.
I am Growing Quinoa in the Willamette Valley/ Coast Range of Oregon. It does well !
Had 215 plants last year and got about 16 lbs of seed from it to eat. Planting between May 1st and June 1st. my plants are climatized now for higher heat tolerances while growing. Some summer days are pushing 100 degrees. Critical to harvest before the September or early October rains. Seed heads will germinate in 12 hours on the stock !! Harvest a bit early if heavy rain coming.
This is my first attempt at growing Quinoa and they’re growing amazingly well. They’re hitting the 1 foot mark but a couple days ago I noticed some white splotches on some of the leaves. They still look to be growing well but there are more splotches every day. Has anyone seen this before?
thanks
I have an allotment and am successfully growing some in a prepared seed bed…..Oh the excitement x
Living on North Coast if Cornwall….SW England ?
my first year of growing quinoa and got about ten pounds..i just did my first wash after drying. i have bunch of stems and leaves within my mix and looking for tips and tricks for you seasoned folk to sort of shift the unwanted stuff out
thank you
Nice to hear from a successful quinoa grower Sven! Maybe this post about threshing & winnowing from One Acre Farm will give you some ideas. http://1-acre-farm.blogspot.com/2013/07/threshing-and-winnowing-wheat-by-hand.html
I live on the westcoast of vancouver island and did a small crop in pots.. Had good success considering we didn’t even think it would grow at all.
Please how can I grow quinoa in India …I’ve got red fertile loans soil in my backyard…is it possible
Any answers from readers?
Thank You,
Giving Valuable information ,we also one of the Quinoa seeds seller
For more details visit:
https://nourishyou.in/
Does these reharvest after we take out the seeds on 1st harvesting. Do we need to plant new seeds after 1 harvesting season is done. What do we do with plant left after harvesting.
Thank You For Sharing Such Valuable Information. Really It Was great Information