Quinoa harvest, part deux

Our quinoa harvest dried down quite nicely and it was time to get our thresh on. The goal? Separate the quinoa seeds from the stalks.

Here’s Margo explaining our various techniques:

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Yes, my bag was much fuller than Margo’s, though I did manage to practically have an asthma attack from all the particulate matter I generated. You can hear me hacking up a lung at around :05.

The real challenge, we’ve decided, is the next step. How exactly do we rid the quinoa from all the dust of crushed leaves and stems?

Here are several options we’re contemplating, and we’d love to hear your ideas:

• Will rinsing it work? We have to wash it anyways to remove the saponin. Will all the powder just rise to the top?

• Should we find a screen that is the perfect size to let the dust through but retain the quinoa?

• Should we follow the advice from Seeds of Change and setup a fan to blow away the dust while praying that the quinoa drops into a container?

We’re going to figure out the best method in the next few days and then proceed. This is labor intensive! I might be changing my tune on whether or not it’s a good idea to grow your own quinoa at home.

Until then, here’s what Associate Garden Editor, Julie Chai, has to say about quinoa: