White quinoa, popularly known as lebioda, is indeed a common weed, but in times of poverty it was she who helped those who could not afford food survive hunger. Young lebioda leaves were fried and served with potatoes, and the so-called starvation bread. Lebioda has many nutritional values, but not all of it. Part of this plant is… poisonous! Where can you find lebiodę and how does this plant affect the body?

White quinoa( Chenopodium albumL.), commonly also called: lebioda, łoboda, lebida, or volok is an annual plant counted to the hairy or gray-haired family.

Lebioda, known since prehistoric times, was once very popular in Poland. It was eaten in villages (especially in Podhale and the Lublin region), and in the 19th century, during World War I and II, it even became a synonym of poverty. Lebioda is a flour plant and therefore nutritious. Lebioda was used as a vegetable not only in Poland, but also, among others, in South America, where she is known as a close cousinquinoa .

The folk medicine also used white quinoa. This plant has many supporters to this day. The problem is that not all parts of the lebioda are he althy and have a healing effect.

So what should you know about white quinoa before you use it?

White quinoa (Lebioda): what does it look like and where is it found?

White quinoa has a light green color and is covered with a light, slightly silvery fluff - from which the second part of its name comes from in the classification of plants. Lebioda reaches a height of several centimeters to about 1 meter. It is a self-seeding plant and its seeds are spread very easily by the wind. Lebioda blooms from June to even October.

White quinoa is a real cosmopolitan. It can be found on all continents and on many islands. In Poland, it grows in meadows, gardens and fields. Farmers treat this weed either as a nuisance or … a salvation. Lebioda is used in beetroot cultivation as a trap for aphids, which eagerly lay their eggs in it.

White quinoa is said to be a ruderal plant, i.e. it also grows in urban areas (e.g. between pavement slabs), polluted, post-industrial, debris or roadside ditches. Lebioda is very expansive -deprives other plants of water and nutrients, preventing them from growing.

White quinoa (lebioda): edible parts and their properties

Edible and healing properties are the young seeds and the young leaves of the white quinoa. They include:

  • protein
  • carbohydrates
  • vitamin A
  • vitamin B
  • vitamin C
  • vitamin K
  • potassium
  • phosphor
  • calcium
  • iron
  • zinc
  • fiber

White quinoa (Lebioda): healing properties

In folk medicine, white quinoa preparations were used as a means of:

  • disinfectant - especially in urinary tract infections and urolithiasis,
  • unblocking the respiratory tract in case of colds, flu, bronchitis, asthma and tuberculosis,
  • supporting the rehabilitation of vision defects - myopia, farsightedness,
  • sedative - e.g. in the treatment of neuroses,
  • cleansing the body of toxins,
  • and as compresses in the event of abrasions, burns or skin inflammation.

Currently, quinoa is no longer used in herbal medicine, but it still has its supporters among the supporters of natural methods of treatment and supporting the body.

White quinoa: poisonous parts and their effects

Old quinoa leaves and seeds are dangerous to our he alth. They contain saponins, oxalic acid, alkaloids, and oleanolic acid that are harmful to us. In addition, Lebioda has a lot of nitrates in it, which it takes from nitrogen-rich soils.

Ailments that may occur after eating quinoa are:

  • feeling unwell
  • diarrhea
  • pressure surges
  • convulsions
  • allergic reactions - severe redness of the skin and swelling - in people who have eaten quinoa and then spent a long time in the sun

Animal breeders fight with white quinoa, because this plant causes, among others, swallowing disorders and coordination of movements, and even collapse, and in sheep and cows, among others bleeding from the mouth, nostrils and anus.

White quinoa (Lebioda): use in the kitchen

For culinary purposes, young leaves (up to approx. 15 cm) of marigolds and its young seeds are used. To be sure that eating them will be safe for us, the worried ingredients must be heat-treated. The leaves must be boiled or scalded with boiling water, and then rinsed thoroughly. In turn, the seeds must be soaked overnight in water with lemon juice, then boiled, and the cooking water carefully poured away. The young leaves of the lebioda are treated in exactly the same way as the spinach. They can be added to salads, scrambled eggs,pancakes, pasta, soups and dry cakes. In turn, the seeds can be used to make groats or flour.

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He alth