According to Washington State University research, “super grain” quinoa has the potential to make a super cookie.
In a published study Journal of Food Science, WSU researchers show that two types of quinoa, specifically grown in Washington state, had excellent performance as potential high-fiber, high-protein flours for commercial cookies. This meant that when baked, the cookies had better “stretchability” and texture.
Taste tests are still underway, but preliminary results show that people prefer sugar cookies with 10% quinoa flour over traditional all-wheat flour cookies.
“This is the Holy Grail for food scientists: We want to make something that people like to eat and want to buy again — and now we’re adding some fiber without them knowing,” said Girish Gonzal, a WSU food scientist and corresponding author of the study.
Originating in South America, quinoa has many nutritional benefits: it contains fiber, protein, vitamins and minerals. It’s also gluten-free. Although the grain is popular with health enthusiasts, it has yet to catch on with many mainstream consumers. WSU researchers are working to change that.
Although no official count is available, WSU plant breeder Kevin Murphy estimates that more than 5,000 acres of quinoa are currently grown in the Pacific Northwest, and more farmers are interested.
Murphy, a co-author of the study, has been breeding quinoa lines to grow especially well in the Pacific Northwest climate, maintaining and even increasing the crop’s nutritional benefits. He has been collaborating with Gonzal since 2014 to improve ways to bring these crops to consumers’ tables.
Current research also identifies a type of quinoa that works best for “pre-cooked grain salad” — a more familiar use of quinoa — as well as quinoa varieties that work well in baking cookies.
Such food science studies, combined with field trials that demonstrate the agronomic properties of the crop, will help WSU researchers decide which quinoa breeding lines will be released for use by growers in 2023.
Instead, the data will help farmers decide which types of quinoa to plant, knowing they already know how to sell the harvest, Gonzal said.
In this study, researchers looked at ten different quinoa breeding lines and experimented with 25% to 100% quinoa as the cookie dough. Many of the breeding lines held up well at lower levels but the cookies fell apart as they approached 100% quinoa flour.
Preliminary results from taste tests also show that using up to 25% quinoa flour gives better results. The researchers intentionally chose sugar cookies for the taste test because they are unlike chocolate chip cookies, which can mask any flavor from the quinoa. For sugar cookies, a little quinoa may have a benefit, says Elizabeth Nalbandian, Ph.D., the study’s first author. A student in Gonzal’s lab.
“I think at 10%, the quinoa added a kind of nutty flavor that people really liked,” she said, adding that testers liked it more than the control whole-wheat cookie.
Nalbandian says that after about 30% replacement, the quinoa’s graininess starts to decrease, possibly because the texture starts to get tougher. Still, she sees potential for quinoa flour, especially in the gluten-free market because many of these baked goods can be low in nutrients.
The researchers will continue to work to develop and test quinoa food products, and Gonzal noted that Nalbandian is especially suited for the job because he has experience in the culinary arts and a bachelor’s degree in food science in addition to hospitality and business management.
“It’s a chef’s art as well as a science,” he said.