quinoa

quinoa [Sp].
Herb (Chenopodium quinoa) which attains a height of 1.5m. The small green clustered flowers are succeeded by small fruits each containing a single seed. The seeds are boiled to make a kind of gruel called carapulque. Native to the Pacific slopes of the Andes over about 2400m above sea level in South America. Possibly locally domesticated by c.6000 BC, but in general, not widely domesticated until c.AD 500.