[strider84]

Anyone had any luck growing quinoa I've heard you can varities that you can grow in the UK?

If so does it yield well?

[Trillium]

There is an article  HERE that will answer many of your questions.

Unlike other grains, you need only a small helping of cooked quinoa (about 1/4 cup) to equal a serving of protein. And whether it's homegrown or not, quinoa still needs loads of rinsing first before cooking.

I wanted to plant quinoa here this summer but had too many other things to sort first so I hope to try next year. I'm clearing a space in my flower garden to grow quinoa and can tie it to the fence for support. I have the fine sieve shown in the pic, as well as experience in hand winnowing to get out chaff. Winnowing somehow is an important step.

[BabbyAnn]

I've grown quinoa and it's really easy  - so easy, you'll think you are growing weeds as it is related to Fat Hen    You get fantastic yields per plant so don't need that many if it's just for yourself.  I got seed from the Real Seeds catalogue - there are various colours and do look very pretty when ripening red and orange.  It's worth staking them too as the seed heads get heavy and can pull the plants down.  When the seeds are harvested, it's not that difficult to remove them - a lot of seed will fall off (worth remembering especially when taking the heads off plants otherwise they'll self seed) and I had no problems removing the others.  Before you can use them, you will need to wash the seed to get rid of the saponins (soapy residue which deters birds from eating your grain) and can take several rinses so have a couple of buckets and a mesh strainer/sieve ready.  Make sure the grain is thoroughly dry before storing.  There are harvesting and washing instructions on the Real Seeds catalogue website too 

[ghost61]

I grew some, but a kind allotment holder thought they were doing me a favour and nipped the seed heads off thinking they were fat hen and that I had missed them when I weeded! So next year I will grow them away from the path!

[gobs]

I agree, very easy to grow, work to process. Like weed. And indeed grows very tall and breaks/wonders around in winds like JA.