Beautiful Buckwheat

Image Gallery Buckwheat flowers almost make groats a pretty sight. iStockPhoto.com/Monika Adamczyk

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Sourdough Buckwheat Pancakes
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Donuts in Rhyme
Scalloped Tomatoes

The closest I’ve been to buckwheat is a pillow filled with husks. Reading about common buckwheat, however, has been a great incentive to add it to my pantry.

Cultivated in Europe and Asia for centuries, buckwheat was a staple in the 1700s and 1800s in the United States. Nowadays, Canada and China are the top producers, and while buckwheat fell out of favor in the United States in the 1960s, it is making a comeback as a so-called “superfood.”

Buckwheat isn’t a true grain, although it is used as if it were; it’s actually related to rhubarb. Gardeners among you will recognize the plant as an excellent so-called green manure crop. The seed is milled into flour, which most often is used for griddle cakes, and groats (the kernel after the hull is removed) can be used for breakfast foods, porridge or as a thickening agent. You might recognize the name groats are known by in Eastern Europe – kasha.

The “superfood” label comes from buckwheat’s healthful components. It is a great source of protein building blocks, especially lysine, which is an essential amino acid needed to build body proteins and to facilitate calcium absorption. Buckwheat is a low-glycemic food, which is good for diabetics, and it assists in lowering cholesterol levels and blood pressure. It is low-fat, high in minerals and vitamins, and it contains more water-soluble fiber than many traditional grains. And to top it off, buckwheat contains no gluten, making it a welcome addition to menus for those suffering from celiac disease.

Buckwheat is also a popular flower with beekeepers, who enjoy the dark, strong-flavored honey that bees produce from it. The Japanese prize buckwheat for use in soba noodles. And, of course, in these parts, those buckwheat griddle cakes are all the rage. Enjoy the recipes!

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Just the cakes, ma’am…

John Mackeller, Grand Haven, Michigan, is looking for a buckwheat pancake recipe that uses a starter and harkens from the 1940s and ’50s.