[LUM#17] Innovating for biodiversity with Qualinoa

[LUM Magazine, Podcast] - Published on October 11, 2022 in Science-Society

"Didier Bazile has developed a bread recipe based on a blend of flours from different quinoa varieties. An innovation that does double duty: preserving quinoa's biodiversity and offering consumers a healthy food.

A bread of exceptional nutritional quality, containing 3 times more protein than white wheat flour bread, all the essential amino acids, and gluten-free. Did you dream of it? Didier Bazile made it happen. It's a mature project, the seeds of which were sown over 20 years ago. At the time, I was working on participatory breeding programs for millet and sorghum in West Africa, where I helped farmers set up community seed banks," recalls the specialist in the conservation of agricultural biodiversity of food plants. It was then that I was asked to contribute my expertise on quinoa-based peasant seed systems in the Andes, where little-known biodiversity was collapsing".

Agricultural heritage

Quinoa represents over 6,000 peasant varieties selected by generations of farmers. " Despite this great biological and cultural diversity, only a tiny fraction of this agricultural heritage can be found on our supermarket shelves, reduced to large white grains of quinoa, at best expanded to 3 colors", deplores the specialist.

To reverse this loss of biodiversity and make the most of quinoa's nutritional richness, Didier Bazile developed his concept by creating a mix of flours for bread, made from a blend of hundreds of quinoa varieties. Problem: gluten is what gives wheat its bread-making ability, and quinoa contains no gluten. Some processes already exist for making bread with this cereal, but they call for numerous food additives: "that's the whole point of the recipe I've developed, because it uses no additives from the food industry, no eggs, no palm oil, no lactose, and no highly allergenic nuts". A secret formulation in which the researcher confides, however, that part of the food technology process relies on a particular transformation of cassava.

Favourite

"The result is a true gluten-free bread with 70% quinoa, where existing products contain no more than 10%," says Didier Bazile. This innovation was voted "Coup de cœur" by the Montpellier Booster Innovation 2020 jury. To help his project grow, the researcher has been supported since March 2021 by Alter'Incub, which specializes in social economy projects. The specialist in the biodiversity of food plants has been trained in business creation: "business plans, market studies, marketing positioning, employment law... This support is essential for setting up Qualinoa, whose articles of association are just about to be filed," confides the researcher-entrepreneur. The support of the Occitanie region enabled me to carry out the market research necessary for the right positioning, and above all to define the collaborations required for the launch", explains Didier Bazile.

And the opportunities are already there, with the "Mix-Quinoa bread-making" product due to arrive in organic stores in autumn 2022. " A whole range will follow, including other mixes for brioches, pastries, purées and even 100% quinoa couscous. All in all, a fine crop for the ever-growing global quinoa market.

Key words : Agriculture, Innovation, LUM#17, LumLu, LUM Magazine, Research