CANIAHUA FROM BOLIVIA
PRODUCTO DE ORIGEN BOLIVIANO

What is Cañihua?
Chenopodium is a genus of about 150 species of flowering plants. It contains several plants of minor to moderate importance as food crops, both leaf vegetables and pseudocereals, including quinoa and cañihua. Cañihua, which originated in the Andes of southern Peru and Bolivia, was domesticated by the settlers of Tiahuanaco, who established themselves on the tableland of Collao. Cañihua is important on the high plateau of Peru and Bolivia because it produces grains for human consumption at between 3 800 and 4 300 meters, being very cold-resistant in its various phenological phases.
PROPERTIES
This grain has a high protein content (15 to 19 percent) and, like quinoa, a high proportion of sulphur-containing amino acids.
It has the advantage of not containing saponins, which facilitates its processing if compared to quinoa.
> Food Preparation
The traditional and most frequent method of consumption is
in the form of lightly roasted, ground grains which produce a pleasant flour called cañihuaco. This is consumed on its own,
in cold or hot drinks, or in porridges. Over 15 different ways of preparing the whole grain and cañihuaco are known (as entrees, soups, stews, desserts and drinks). In the bakery industry good results have been achieved by adding 20 percent of cañihuaco to wheat flour, which gives the product (bread, biscuits) a pleasant characteristic colour and flavour.
> Health
Cañihuaco also has medicinal uses: it counteracts altitude
sickness and fights dysentery while the ashes of its stem can be used as a repellent against insect and spider bites.
> Other Uses
The dry stems and chaff produced when harvesting cañihua are
a valued by-product for animal feeding. Gold/green dyes can be obtained from the whole plant.
GROWING
At present, the cultivation and utilization of cañihua are maintained at subsistence levels in the high plateau regions of Peru and Bolivia It is a day-neutral plant and shows adaptability to several environments. Grain has been produced experimentally in Finland at lat. 40°N. The plant needs 500 to 800 mm of rain
but it can also tolerate prolonged periods of drought. It displays extreme susceptibility to excessive humidity in the first stages of development. Once established, the plant is very resistant to cold and can tolerate temperatures as low as -10°C during branching, since it has an adaptation mechanism whereby the leaves cover and protect the primordia and flower stems at nightfall, thus preventing the vital parts of the plant from freezing. At the
other extreme, it can tolerate up to 28°C, if it has the necessary humidity.
HARVESTING
Harvesting takes place when the plants change colour. It consists of cutting and laying the grain for threshing after 20 to 30 days
or when it is completely dry. Threshing may be done by hand, using curved sticks and sieves, or it may be mechanized, using a stationary wheat thresher. One of the causes of its marginalization is the large number of people required to harvest it.
PROCESSING
The grain, which is covered with fine chaff, needs cleaning. One reason for its underutilization is its small grain size, which makes handling difficult.

SITE IS UNDER CONSTRUCTION
FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
E-mail