Quinoa couscous
“The idea was to marry two products from two very different cultures – North Africa and South America – and the result is very satisfactory,” said Amine Khalil, director of development at Moroccan company Dari Couscous, which has been producing wheat-based couscous and pasta for 25 years.
“We set up a project with the premium Ecuadorian company, Mama Quinoa, to develop this new product. We [Dari Couscous] had already developed barley couscous so this was a natural part of our innovation strategy, and we are launching it here at SIAL.”
After importing the raw material from Mama Quinoa, Dari mills the grain into a flour and transforms into couscous at its BRC-certified factory in Rabat, which has a capacity to make 200 tonnes of couscous a month.
The final product contains 100% quinoa and retains the characteristic nutty flavour, Khalil said.
“The advantage is that this cooks in just five minutes and can be used like wheat couscous but it has the nutritional benefits of quinoa, which contains over 15% protein.
“It is on-trend because it is healthy, nutritional and original, and consumers are looking for originality. It contains no additives and preservatives.”
Khalil said the product was available to customers and consumers worldwide but it expected to see most demand from Europe, the US, Latin America and Dari’s home market, Morocco. It also plans to launch an organic version.