I get emails and questions all the time about quinoa being gluten free. It seems strange to me when the packets that I buy clearly have stamped on the packet “Gluten Free”
Where does the confusion come from? I’m sure the manufacturers would know if their own product was gluten free or not.
Quinoa grain can be included into your gluten free diet easily and you can be sure that as long as the other ingredients are also gluten free there will be no problem.
There are however quinoa food products where it is not quite so clear cut. Quinoa flour and quinoa flakes are processed quinoa and cannot be guaranteed gluten free.
The main problem is that if the quinoa flour or quinoa flakes is made in the same factory as wheat based products then there could be cross contamination to the quinoa products.
More and more suppliers of quinoa are pre-washing the quinoa which means that most or all of the bitter saponin coating has been rinsed off before being packed.
As well as the health benefits of quinoa, we have found it to be easy to cook and very enjoyable to eat.
