Buckwheat

This article is about the food crop. For the Our Gang/Little Rascals character, see Billie "Buckwheat" Thomas.

Common Buckwheat
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Plantae
Division:	Magnoliophyta
Class:	Magnoliopsida
Order:	Caryophyllales
Family:	Polygonaceae
Genus:	Fagopyrum
Species:	F. esculentum
Binomial name
Fagopyrum esculentum Moench

Common buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a plant in the genus Fagopyrum (sometimes merged into genus Polygonum) in the family Polygonaceae. With its congeners tartary buckwheat (F. tartaricum Gaertn) and perennial buckwheat (F. cymosum L.), it is often counted as a cereal, though unlike most cereals the buckwheats are not true grasses. Buckwheat is thus not related to true wheat. Buckwheat is most likely descended from wild buckwheat, though it does not share its vine-like growth habit.

The name "buckwheat" or "beech wheat" comes from its triangular seeds, which resemble the much larger seeds of the beech nut from the beech tree, and the fact that it is used like wheat.

Cultivation

Common buckwheat was domesticated and first cultivated in southeast Asia, possibly around 6000 BC, and from there spread to Europe and to Central Asia and Tibet. Genetic evidence points to as the wild ancestor, with domestication most likely taking place in the western Sichuan and/or northwestern Yunnan regions of China . Buckwheat is documented in Europe in the Balkans by at least the Middle Neolithic (circa 4000 BC) and the oldest known remains in China so far date to circa 2600 BC. However, buckwheat pollen is present in Japan as early as 4000 BC suggesting either that (i) domestication of this plant occurred earlier than has been documented archaeologically; (ii) it spread more rapidly than previously acknowledged, or; (iii) there were two or more domestication events. It is the world's highest elevation domesticate, being cultivated in Yunnan on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau or on the Plateau itself.

Common Buckwheat in flower

Buckwheat is a short season crop that does well on poor, somewhat acidic soils, but the soil must be well drained. Too much fertilizer, especially nitrogen, will greatly reduce yields. In hot climates, it can only be grown by sowing late in the season, so that it will bloom in cooler weather. Buckwheat is sometimes used as a green manure, as a plant for erosion control, or as wildlife cover and feed.

Common buckwheat is by far the most important buckwheat species, economically, accounting for over 90% of the world's buckwheat production. Cultivation of buckwheat has declined sharply in the United States. Over a million acres (4,000 km²) were harvested in 1918. By 1954 that had declined to 150,000 acres (600 km²), and by 1964, the last year that production statistics were gathered, only 50,000 acres (200 km²) were grown. By contrast, in 1970 Russia grew an estimated 4.5 million acres (18,000 km²) of buckwheat. China, Japan, Poland, Canada, Brazil, South Africa, and Australia also grow significant quantities of buckwheat.

Use

The seed is an achene, similar to a sunflower seed, with a hard outer shell and soft inner meat. The flour is noticeably darker than wheat flour, and is known (exaggeratedly) as "blé noir" ("black wheat") in French, along with the name sarrasin ("saracen"). In Japan, the flour is made into noodles (including soba), and as groats. Groats, that part of the grain left after the hulls are removed from the seeds, and farina made from groats are used for breakfast food, porridge, and thickening materials in soups, gravies, and dressings. In Korea, buckwheat starch is used to make a jelly called memilmuk. Buckwheat groats are also commonly used in eastern Europe, often in form of "kasha" dish. It is also used with wheat, maize or rice in bread and pasta products. Buckwheat contains rutin, a medicinal chemical, used for vascular disorders; it is naturally devoid of gluten, and can thus be eaten by people who react adversely to gluten.

Soba noodles, made from buckwheat flour

Buckwheat pancakes, sometimes raised with yeast, are eaten in several countries. They are known as buckwheat blinis in Russia, galettes in France (where they are especially associated with Brittany), ployes in Acadia and boûketes (that is, named the same as the plant they are made of) in Wallonia. Similar pancakes were a common food in American pioneer days. They are light and foamy. The buckwheat flour gives them an earthy, mildly mushroom-like taste. In Ukraine, yeast rolls called hrechanyky are made from buckwheat.

Besides the seeds, from which buckwheat flour is produced, buckwheat is also a good honey plant, producing a dark, strong monofloral honey. Unlike the widely consumed seeds, buckwheat greens are toxic to humans. Eaten in sufficient quantities, the greens can induce an ensemble of symptoms, including an extreme sensitization of the skin to sunlight known as fagopyrism. Light pigmented livestock and fair skinned people are particularly susceptible. Enthusiasts of sprouting, however, eat the very young buckwheat sprouts (four to five days of growth) for their subtle, nutty flavour and high nutritional value.

In the past buckwheat cultivation was also used in orchards to increase the rate of pollination.

In the 1970s and 1980s, General Mills produced a sweetened, maple-flavored breakfast cereal made from buckwheat, which was marketed under the name Buc-Wheats.

Upholstery filling

Buckwheat hulls are used as filling for a variety of upholstered goods, including pillows and zafu. The hulls are durable and do not conduct or reflect heat as much as synthetic fills. They are sometimes marketed as an alternative natural fill to feathers for those with allergies.

Medical studies to measure the health effects of buckwheat hull pillows have been performed.

Buckwheat and beer

In recent years, buckwheat has been used as a substitute for other grain in gluten free beer. Buckwheat is used in the same way as barley to produce a "malt" that can form the basis of a mash that will brew a beer without gliadin or hordein (together "gluten") and therefore can be suitable for coeliacs or others sensitive to certain glycoproteins.

Trivia

The buckwheat plant is celebrated in Preston County, West Virginia at their Buckwheat Festival where people can participate in swine, cow, and sheep judging contests, vegetable contests, and craft fairs. The area fire departments also play an important role in the series of parades that occur there. Each year there is a King and Lady Fireman elected. Also there are many rides and homemade, homegrown buckwheat cakes and sausage.

Etymology

Probably partial translation of Middle Dutch boecweite : boek, beech; see Proto-Indo-European_language bhago- + weite, wheat.

Recipes

• Buckwheat pancakes
• Buckwheat porridge
• Buckwheat noodles with smoked salmon and dill

References

• Kump, B. and Javornik, B. 2002. Genetic diversity and relationships among cultivated and wild accessions of tartary buckwheat (Fagopyrum tataricum Gaertn.) as revealed by RAPD markers Genetic Resources and Crop Evolution 49: 565-572.
• Alternative Field Crops Manual
• Damania, A.B. 1998. "Diversity of Major Cultivated Plants Domesticated in the Near East".[1]
• Mazza, G. 1992. Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum), the crop and its importance, p. 534-539. In: R. MacRae (ed.). Encyclopedia of food science, food technology and nutrition. Academic Press Ltd., London.
• Mazza, G. 1993. Storage, Processing, and Quality Aspects of Buckwheat Seed, p. 251-255. In: J. Janick and J.E. Simon (eds.), New crops. Wiley, New York.
• Marshall, H.G. and Y. Pomeranz. 1982. Buckwheat description, breeding, production and utilization, p. 157-212 In: Y. Pomeranz (ed.). Advances in cereal science and technology. Amer. Assoc. Cereal Chem., St. Paul, MN.
• McGregor, S.E. 1976. Insect Pollination Of Cultivated Crop Plants, chap. 9 Crop Plants and Exotic Plants. U.S. Department of Agriculture. As found on the website of the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center of the USDA Agricultural Research Service.[2]

See also

• Eriogonum - wild buckwheat

External links

• Nutritional information for buckwheat
• [http://www.jackcrisp.com