I can't give this any stars (as I haven't tried it yet), but I noticed from a lot of the reviews that people were getting a bitter taste by cooking their quinoa without this method...? I wanted to mention that I buy Bob's Red Mill organic whole grain quinoa at Costco, and it says right on the package that it has been "thoroughly rinsed and air dried to remove the bitter saponins, so it can be used without rinsing". I was at Sam's Club the other day too, and I checked a bag of quinoa they sell there (also organic), and it said it had been rinsed as well. I don't rinse before I cook my Bob's RM, and it always tastes great. Maybe it's just the organic ones that rinse it first before selling it in stores. I don't know. Regardless, I do still plan to try your method of toasting, to add another depth of flavor to the quinoa. UPDATE 12/7/10: I was looking for a way to jazz up my quinoa, and I came back across this recipe/method. WOW, does it ever change the texture and flavor for the better! My quinoa started to smell like, hmm... popcorn-y almost, and I was worried I overtoasted it, but it came out really good. I was seriously thinking of finding random recipes to just use up my quinoa and just buy whole grain couscous after that, but this method has pulled me back in! I can definitely say I am a quinoa fan, and I will be using this method again and again. Thank you for posting it!
