"Quipu" it is a variety grown in the province of Arezzo and it has been studied in Florence for twenty years. Due to its characteristics, this pseudocereal could be of interest not only to the food market, but also to the pharmaceutical, herbal and nutraceutical markets.
Quinoa is becoming increasingly common on our tables because of its high nutraceutical qualities and because it is gluten-free. Quinoa, the pseudocereal that gradually became part of our diet, could soon become a complete "Made in Italy" product thanks to a variety adaptable to our climatic conditions developed at the University of Florence, which deposited the rights at the Community Plant Variety Office to exploit its use for commercial purposes.
In fact, if at the moment it is available on the market a quinoa cultivated in our country, this originated from imported varieties (especially from Northern Europe).
Studies on this plant at the University of Florence began in 1999, when the Department of Agricultural, Food, Environmental and Forestry Sciences and Technologies (DAGRI) was the Italian coordinator of the "FAO-UNA-PERU American and European Test of Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa)."
Since then, all research has been conducted at the "Center for the Testing and Transfer of Innovation" of Terre Regionali Toscane, in Cesa, near Arezzo, where "Quipu", the first Italian variety of quinoa has been developed.
Paolo Casini, who coordinated the studies, explains how important it is that the introduction of this species is not exclusively entrusted to the use of varieties imported from the Andes Plateau, as the latter are unable to adapt to our photoperiod.
As a matter of fact, the genetic improvement has greatly reduced some serious problems such as the incomplete maturation, which also alters the nutritional quality of seeds and makes all post-harvesting operations more difficult (cleaning, selection, decortication and possible desaponification).
"Quipu is characterized by an early cycle and a good tolerance to drought. This characteristic makes it particularly interesting as a crop to be introduced, in late winter sowing, in rotations of non-irrigated cultivation systems," explains Casini.
Quinoa could therefore represent for our farmers an interesting economic and agronomic alternative destined to occupy an ever larger share of the market in different sectors: food, but also pharmaceutical, herbal and nutraceutical.
Last but not least, the cultivation of quinoa in Italy also has an ethical aspect: the rapid increase in production has caused devastating effects in the major producing countries (Bolivia and Peru), where the pseudocereal has reached a price too high for the local populations that, having to eliminate it from their diet, are forced to look at other cheaper food sources that do not always meet their specific nutritional needs. This is especially true for children and the elderly, for whom quinoa is a complete food.
