Buckwheat

Fagopyrum esculentum

grain

Triangular seeds of a plant of the sorrel and rhubarb family: neither wheat nor a grass despite its French name of black wheat, and gluten-free; Breton galettes, Russian kasha. It provides rutin, a flavonol, magnesium and manganese.

Origin

Yunnan (China)

Season (United States)

all year round · grows in your region

Preparation

Dry-toasted for a few minutes before cooking — that is Russian kasha — it takes on a hazelnut taste and holds up better in cooking. Soaking, sprouting or sourdough bring its phytates down — and release the zinc and iron they were holding. Its oxalates leach into water: boiling it and throwing the water out takes a good share with it.

Molecules

Resistant starch RS1 · Flavonols (quercetin) · Vitamin B1 (thiamine) · Magnesium · Manganese · Insoluble fibers · Protein · Methionine · InositolIn small amounts, not counted Lysine · Vitamin B3 (niacin)What slows things down Phytates · Oxalates

Did you know?

Its pollen turns up in Breton peat bogs from the 12th century; in the 19th century, buckwheat covered 700,000 hectares in France.