Pehaps up in the hills landscapes could be terraced and quinoa grown.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110104/ap_on_re_us/lt_fea_food_quinoa_rising
I pay a high price.
http://www.tierramerica.net/2004/1030/iacentos2.shtml
Any comments?

S.

Could / does the DR grow quinola?

Who the F knows and what the F is a quinola?

It is a seed similiar to but not a grain, is highly nutritious and easy to grow wild. It was a staple of the Ancient Incas, I believe. Near as nutritious as potatos. Not sure what the environment needed to grow it though?

Some people buy it because they want to support the Bolivian revolution and the people of that country.
Thanks junior for helping out.
There are families in the DR that could do with some extra nutritious cereal - I think it is superior to potatoes.
By the way CW won't be able to complain any more you are single minded!
S.

More nformation!
ihttp://www.echonet.org/content/AtoZChap3/1365
S.

How about we grow quinola for Haiti? By the way any relation to granola?

Interestingly enough Muesli based on rolled oats was developed in Switzerland in the 1900's.
Amercians got hooked on the the less nutritious corn flakes so companies relaunched this invention the the states as Granola; much more nutritious than corn flakes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muesli
An advantage of this food is all sorts of ingredients can be used. A friend did a project in the Middle East for date flake processing for this food and found a ready market for this ingredient.
Sorry I did used an alternative spelling for quinoa the first time - but processed it could be used in granola.
You could buy a packet and try it in various forms in your Granola mix.
It would need some organisation to be sponsored to introduce it to Haiti - but if donors could be found of say 500+dollars each it could be done and advice be sought as to the best area of Haiti/DR to try.
There are satellite climate maps of Haiti and the DR.
S.

Sounds good but before we get all excited, there are cultural issues in the dietary habits of the natives of Hispañiola that need to be addressed.

You asked whether sea-level quinoa should be used more widely. I certainly think that it should be grown (and used) more widely, like amaranth, moringa, and several other traditional nutritious foods, including Ethiopian teff (see my Présence Africaine paper for a discussion of teff’s nutritional value). NASA, the American, space agency has done a comparative evaluation of different types of quinoa (see below) which indicates that sea-level quinoa is not as nutritious as the high altitude type. But that finding is surelty the result of intensive development by its indigenous Andean cultivators who live at high altitudes. Living at such altitudes, their natural habitat, they had neither incentive or reason to develop sea-level quinoa. There is considerable evidence that peasant farmers conduct R&D of indigenous foods, which is, in some cases, more advanced than that conducted by modern science. Andean altiplano peasaant farmers have carried research on the potato, which originated in the Andes, further than Western science. They currently plant several hundred varieties. Haitian peasant farmers, and those of other countries in which sea-level quinoa might be introduced, could well do rthe same.

The NASA document evaluating the nutritional merits of quinoa can be accessed at the weblink below. It is based on nine cited scientific documents or studies, one of which I cited in my critique of Haiti’s Emergency food production programme:

http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/19940015664_1994015664.pdf. Because of its high protein values (12-18%) and unique amino acid composition, NASA selected quinoa as the best food crop for its Controlled Ecological Life Support System (CELSS). Recommendations don’t come higher than that. On page 8 of NASA’s study there is a comparative table of 12 essential amino acids found in quinoa, wheat, and soybean as wel as how each food grain shapes up to FAO’s standard minimum amino acid profile for human nutrition, in respect of each of those essential amino acids. You will see that quinoa outperforms the other two food grains in almost everyone of them.

“It is usually cooked like rice and has a very mild taste with a texture similar to cooked barley. In addition, quinoa can be eaten like a hot breakfas cereal, as a side dish in a dinner meal or put in soups salads, pilafs and desserts. With the increasing availability of quinoa, many unique cooking methods are being developed multiplying the ways this food can be prepared. With all these benefits quinoa may allow greater versatilitiy in meeting the nutritional need of humans on long-term space missions.” (Excerpt from the NASA document).

http://www.normangirvan.info/claxton-food-production-haiti/

Also much else in this reference.

http://www.normangirvan.info/claxton-food-production-haiti/

It easy to find out if the Haitians would accept quinoa - take a sack, get a few Haitians to help, mix with local products, make samples of food at a local market adusted to local tastes - hot peppers etc.
Find reaction.
I find with Hatians that as long as it is a little hot and filling if they are hungry they eat.
S.

S.

yawn