I'm not sure I want to see those words on something that's to be home grown.The rest looks fine but that's a little troubling to me.
Ye, you want to wash the saponin off. Its nasty tasting and soapy, so its not like you won't notice.. but thats also what keeps the critters from being interested.
"Quinoa can be classified according to its saponin concentrations as either "sweet" (saponin free or having less than 0.11% saponins on a fresh weight basis) or "bitter" (containing more than 0.11% saponins) (Koziol 1990b). The saponins in quinoa are glycosidic triterpenoids (Burnouf-Radosevich et al. 1985; Mizui et al. 1988, 1990; Ma et al. 1989; Meyer et al. 1990; Ridout et al. 1991) and represent the major antinutritional factor found in the grain (Koziol 1992). Fortunately, most of these saponins are concentrated in the outer layers of the grain (perianth, pericarp, seed coat, and a cuticle-like layer) which facilitates their removal industrially by abrasive dehulling (Reichert et al. 1986) or traditionally by washing the grains with water.
The toxicity of saponins depends upon their type, method of absorption, and target organism (for a comprehensive review, see Price et al. 1987).
Because of their differential toxicity to various organisms saponins have been investigated as potent natural insecticides which would have no adverse effects on higher animals and man (Basu and Rastogi 1967). Other interest in saponins is in their antibiotic, fungistatic, and pharmacological properties (Basu and Rastogi 1967; Agarwal and Rastogi 1974; Chandel and Rastogi 1980; Nonaka 1986). The pharmacological interest in saponins lies with their ability to induce changes in intestinal permeability (Gee et al. 1989; Johnson et al. 1986) which may aid the absorption of particular drugs (Basu and Rastogi 1967), and with their hypocholesterolemic effects (Oakenfull and Sidhu 1990). As the saponins in quinoa have been relatively little studied their potential commercial uses remain unknown. "
They are water soluable, and apparently you can make soaps and shampoos out of it ( I know at least one major hotel chain stocks "Quinoa" saponin shampoo in its rooms)
I just can't imagne its thats toxic if the Incas lived on it as their staple food. And as I said, once washed its really tasty.. enough so it passes the five year old's "if its a plant I am sure it will kill me to eat it" taste buds.