Quinoa questions..

[malkin]

I saw it at the store for $10 a pound.

For that price it better be really tasty!

[hipmama]

$10 a pound?! That's crazy! It's usually about $3 a pound for me. I think the price is that it's not an easily local grown grain, and it's not a super common grain, and as with many things- once people discover that it's really good for you they jack up the price. I think the price has gone up at least a dollar a pound in the 2 years.

[OakLeaf]

I get it pre-packaged for $5 a pound, and cheaper in bulk. That's not pre-washed though - pre-washed probably jacks up the price.

It's a small seed and not commonly grown, so the harvesting machines probably cost way more than grain or soybean combines. I don't actually know, but I'm going to guess that with such small seeds and a broadleaf plant, you might not be able to combine it at all, but you might have to harvest and thresh separately.

Then there's the whole economies of scale thing. AFAIK it's not used as a livestock feed at all, so the quantities are very, very small in comparison to things like grains and beans.

A fairer comparison might be with wild rice or amaranth.