Blogs
Determining The Optimal Location For A Quinoa Processing Facility In Ontario
As part of the Pure Ontario Quinoa project, a recent market analysis concluded there is a high capacity in Ontario for farmers to grow superior quality quinoa, a nutritionally dense seed that continues to skyrocket in popularity and crop value, on Ontario farmland. The establishment of a processing facility is paramount to the development of a 100 per cent local product that would be available to consumers and help decrease the carbon footprint of production. This facility will be an excellent opportunity for Ontario farmers to expand their production of a unique superfood crop that will help to diversify Ontario agriculture in a direction necessary to keep in pace with market demand. Katan Kitchens is prepared to begin development of this landmark facility in order to process their Quinta Quinoa – a unique variety of locally developed Ontario quinoa seed of high nutritional quality, purity and traceability. Quinoa requires specialized processing to obtain food-grade status and a facility that can meet these standards is not currently available in Ontario, posing a significant barrier to production. The proposed facility will also adopt the capabilities of processing other gluten-free crops, posing as a very unique opportunity for expansion in the food processing industry in Ontario. Outcomes from the Pure Ontario Quinoa project have helped to narrow down possible locations for the facility, based on agronomic, processing and marketing considerations. Katan aims to begin development on the facility in Winter/Spring 2015, and estimates the facility will generate approximately 50 new jobs for Ontarians once operating at full capacity.
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Successful Completion Of Pure Ontario Quinoa Project Is Announced!
Katan Kitchens and industry collaborators with the Pure Ontario Quinoa project are excited to announce conclusion of the project with several successful outcomes, advances, and partnerships formed over its duration.Collaborators have worked to develop key components of a marketing development project that will help Katan achieve their goal of producing the first local high-quality quinoa seed for full commercial production in Ontario by 2015. Katan would like to acknowledge Innovation Initiatives Ontario (IION) and Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association (OSCIA) for their collaboration and support throughout the project.
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Breaking Down Quinoa Part II – The Goodness Of Iron
As we near the end of June, we are finishing our quinoa planting, and are keeping our fingers crossed for ideal weather conditions for all of the farmers out there! We are working with a number of producers across Ontario to increase our acreage for quinoa this year. We were overwhelmed at the interest we received over the past eight months, and are constantly looking to establish new partnerships with growers. If you are interested in trying to grow quinoa with us, please e-mail service@katan.ca.
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Breaking Down Quinoa Part I – What Nutrients Make It So Super?
We’ve all heard it by now – the United Nations has declared 2013 ‘The International Year of the Quinoa”. Undoubtedly, the word ‘quinoa’ (pronounced ‘keen’-‘wa’) has popped up more and more over the last couple of years, as a high nutritional quality, gluten-freepseudo-cereal grain alternative. Quinoa’s quick rise in popularity is evident through a number of new food products that incorporate the ingredient, as well as the consumer sales of quinoa that continue to increase at an astonishingly fast rate. Quinoa’s unique ability to deliver a complete plant protein profile, as well as a high abundance of vitamins, minerals and macronutrients, earns it the title of ‘Superfood’.
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Sea Buckthorn
Despite it’s name, Sea Buckthorn, has no title or status in the water world. However, an argument can be made to crown it both the King and Queen of the plant kingdom!
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Quinoa
Trivia Question: What are two plant sources considered to have a complete protein profile? Answer: Quinoa seeds and Edamame beans contain an abundance of all nine essential amino acids and are comparable to meat protein profiles.
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Amaranth
Amaranth is Greek for “Unfading flower”. Never heard of this SuperFood? Not surprising! In the 1500’s, when the Spanish Conquistadors came to Mexico, they reported the use of Amaranth in spiritual Aztec ceremonies. King Louie, who deemed the ceremonies as ‘devilish’, declared Amaranth as the first banned food in the Americas. Amaranth faced similar challenges globally, as Spanish conquests replace these crops with wheat and corn. Fortunate for us, some spiritual leaders continued to grow hidden crops of Amaranth. Since then Amaranth became a common food in India, Nepal, China and Eastern Africa but remained absent in North America until the 1970s.