**Abstract**

Quinoa (*Chenopodium quinoa* Willd.) is a crop belonging to the Chenopodiaceae family that originated in the high Andean region of South America. Currently, the main producers of quinoa are Bolivia and Peru; this crop groups around 250 species and 3000 varieties. It has a high adaptability, which allows it to be cultivated in cold climates in the high Andean regions, as well as in subtropical conditions, and grows from sea level to more than 4000 meters above sea level. Due to its high nutritional value and nutritional properties, quinoa is considered "one of the grains of the 21st century." It is high in protein without gluten, polyunsaturated fatty acids, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and fiber, as well as high levels of bioactive compounds such as flavonoids, phenolic acids, bioactive peptides, phytosteroid betalains, phytosterols, and saponins. From quinoa, a protein concentrate of high biological value can be extracted due to its content of the nine essential amino acids, as well as an oil with high antioxidant activity due to its high levels of tocopherols. These by-products have a high economic and commercial value and can be produced on an industrial scale for use in the food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries.

**Keywords:** *Chenopodium quinoa*, Andean region, phenolic compounds, essential amino acids, antioxidant activity

### **1. Introduction**

Quinoa is a plant of the *Chenopodium* genus original from South America and well distributed in countries that belonged to the Inca empire, located on the Andean mountain range, from southern Colombia through Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, and up to northern Chile [1]. It is considered one of the oldest crops in the Americas. Archeological findings in Chile have shown that quinoa was cultivated around 3000 B. C. In the case of Peru, in Ayacucho, it has been shown that quinoa was cultivated before 5000 B.C. [2]. It has a great edaphological and climatic adaptability and grows at different altitudes, from sea level to the altitude of the Bolivian altiplano withstand

low temperatures down to 8.0°C, alkaline soils (pH 8), and salinity of 52 mS/cm, which has allowed the expansion of large cultivation areas in different geographical areas, thus promoting the exploitation of its diverse nutritional and pharmacological properties [3]. The main survival mechanism of quinoa against frost is to avoid the formation of ice by an internal reduction in temperature. Quinoa has a high soluble sugar content that can cause decrease of the freezing point and therefore the lethal temperature of the leaf tissue [4]. It is designated as a "pseudocereal" and even as an oleaginous " pseudocereal" [5], and due to its characteristic of resistance and tolerance to stress and its nutritional and biological properties, quinoa has been described as "one of the grains of the 21st century" [6].
