Threshing

So I have spent pretty much all evening attempting to thresh the quinoa. Quite a bit of time separating the seedheads from the stalk and leaves, and then the actual threshing of the seedhead bits (which basically involves rubbing it against a sieve). It is very very very labour intensive - this is about 1/3 of the seedheads done, at the point at which I gave up for today! At least all the stalk/seed separation is done, so I should finish the remainder tomorrow. Although there are obvious grains here there is also still quite a bit of chaff, so I will try and separate that in the next stage - my plan (thanks to a handy site I found on the internet) is rather than winnowing (which I think will be too messy and blow the chaff everywhere) I will try and separate them through putting them in water, on the assumption that the grains will sink and the chaff won't. We'll see how that works! Once that's all done I plan to dry roast the grains (as that's supposed to bring out the nutty flavour more) and then use them as and when.

Next year if I do it again, I think I will cut the stalks longer and hang them up to dry before doing this. Although they are mainly dry, it's all still damp enough to slow down the process and make it quite messy, but as I'd cut the stalks too close to the seedhead there was no way of hanging them up first.

When I eventually cook them I am going to have to do a lot of rinsing, as the grains are covered in this stuff called saponin, which is very clever as it makes it distasteful to birds and critters, but unfortunately also makes it distasteful to humans! Honestly, when we eventually eat this stuff it had better be amazing, after all this work!

It's all very educational! :)