![\"\"](\"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/buckwheat-01.jpg\")
<\/a>\nBuckwheat hotcakes with blueberries (from frozen) and maple syrup<\/em><\/p>\n
The blackness of buckwheat hotcakes is so shocking that you’d think they couldn’t possibly be good. Yet the flavor is mild — almost delicate — and nutty.<\/p>\n
Buckwheat is not a relative of wheat. In fact, according to the Wikipedia article<\/a>, it’s not even a grain, because it’s not a grass. Rather, buckwheat is the seed of Fagopyrum esculentum<\/em>, which is a relative of sorrel, knotweed, and rhubarb.<\/p>\n Again according to Wikipedia, buckwheat was first cultivated in Southeast Asia. It made its way to Europe as a cool-weather and short-season crop. Many farms grew it in early America. Once upon a time, buckwheat was commonly grown in the nearby Blue Ridge Mountains. That is no longer the case, and if I have ever seen a field of buckwheat, I’m not aware of it. Still, older people remember buckwheat from their childhoods, and there is still a demand for it locally. A nearby mill actually grinds buckwheat flour. I have no idea, though, where they get the buckwheat. The local mill’s flour is sold in country stores in paper sacks tied with a string that always look shopworn and not a bit fresh. I’ve only ever seen it as “self-rising” flour, which is another reason I would never buy the local stuff. I have never bought any self-rising flour, and I can’t imagine why anyone would. Except that I believe many people don’t realize that self-rising flour is just flour that already has baking powder added. Why would I want baking powder added for me since I can easily do that myself? Self-rising flour also means that a flour can be used only in a quick bread, ruling out its use for yeast breads or, say, a pie crust.<\/p>\n Bob’s Red Mill is probably the easiest source of buckwheat flour. The label says that the flour’s dark color comes from the hull of the seed. So buckwheat flour is a whole grain (or whole seed) flour. Buckwheat groats, on the other hand, have been hulled. I don’t think I’ve ever eaten groats of any sort, probably just because the word “groats” sounds so unappetizing.<\/p>\n Buckwheat flour has no gluten. It makes fine pancakes, but I’d rather not attempt any other kind of bread with it. I suspect that buckwheat flour would make a decent pie crust. I’ll run that experiment soon.<\/p>\n Buckwheat hotcakes with blueberries (from frozen) and maple syrup The blackness of buckwheat hotcakes is so shocking that you’d think they couldn’t possibly be good. Yet the flavor is mild — almost delicate — and nutty. Buckwheat is not a relative of wheat. In fact, according to the Wikipedia article, it’s not even a grain, … Continue reading “Buckwheat”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-food","category-sustainable-living"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15198"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15212,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15198\/revisions\/15212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/acornabbey.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>
\nA field of buckwheat — Wikipedia Commons<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"