» For the town with a similar name, see Quinua, Peru. "Quinoa"'s also a title of a 1992 music album by Tangerine Dream. Quinoa (or, Spanish quinua, from Quechua kinwa), a species of goosefoot (Chenopodium),'s a grain-like crop grown primarily for its edible seeds. It's a pseudocereal rather than a true cereal, or grain, as it isn't a grass. As a chenopod, quinoa's closely related to species such as beets, spinach and tumbleweeds. Its leaves are also eaten as a leaf vegetable, much like amaranth… (More on Quinoa)