Let's start with the buckwheat plant. It's a tall, stalky thing with groups of pointed green leaves, clusters of white flowers, and dark seeds with pointed tips. Buckwheat usually grows to a height in the neighborhood of three feet, and it can be sown very thickly as a cover crop. It's an annual, but the seeds will fall off the plants and self-sow, so new plants will sometimes come up without the soil being re-planted. The roots are shallow, so unwanted buckwheat is easily pulled up.
Buckwheat, like everything which came into being before history was written down, has an origin story given out in different versions. Many people say that buckwheat originated in China, while some say it was first cultivated in the Balkans (Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and nearby areas). Other researchers say that Arab cultivation is what brought the world the first buckwheat crops.
Besides the issue of origin, there's also conflicting information about how the cultivation and use of buckwheat spread from its origin point(s). I've read that Crusaders carried buckwheat seeds to other cultures. This reference leans that way.
It's possible that Crusaders brought buckwheat back from Asia to Europe, but the armed participants in the Crusades were not famous for embracing others' cultures. And while the author of the just-referened article denies that Arabs introduced other cultures to the crop, but I still find it interesting that Breton buckwheat crepes are called "Galettes de Sarracin" because "Sarracin" is one French term for "buckwheat." Sarracin is an alternative spelling of Saracen, a term used in the Middle Ages for Arabs and/or Muslims. It's not totally clear if the French thought the dark buckwheat flour was like the complexions of Arab people, or whether the word meant the dark flour that desert-dwellers ate.
There was a period of time in the 700s when the French / Gallic people were -- let's say interracting -- with Arab cultures. Read more about that here.
Additionally, I'm inclined to believe that merchant trade along the Silk Road brought buckwheat from one culture to another. There's definitely disagreement about which way to draw the arrows of movement on a map. That's why I've drawn stars instead of arrows:
We know for sure that the people of Japan were growing soba (buckwheat) by the 700s, because there's an imperial decree from that time that farmers raise the crop to prevent a predicted famine. And we know that buckwheat had reached the American colonies by the 1600s, where it was a sustenance crop that could grow in unimproved soil while the colonists were learning how to grow food in North America.
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| Squanto, who helped the colonists learn to grow maize to surive. |
One factor which could be confusing historians, professional and amaateur alike, is lack of clarity about which variety is meant when people say "buckwheat." There are three basic types of the plant. A group of several similar varieties have been hybridized into a group called 'common buckwheat." These plants are not exactly the same variety, but they're close enough to be called by the same name. Then there is a second type of buckwheat called "silverhull" or "silverskin," grown in Canada and used to make "ployes," a type of savory pancake. The third kind of buckwheat is called 'Tatary" or "Tartary" buckwheat. This plant is also known as "India buckwheat," and it's a common variety in the Himalayas. It's considered both food and medicine in China. In the last five or six thousand years, people have moved around a lot, taking their food, crops, and culture with them. So we may never know exactly who started growing and eating buckwheat first.
Which variety of buckwheat one plants and harvests is something that's important to know. Tatary buckwheat is known as "bitter" buckwheat, for the obvious reason. It's also considered, in some cultures, a healthful herb and this is the type of buckwheat used in special herbal teas.
Which variety of buckwheat one plants and harvests is something that's important to know. Tatary buckwheat is known as "bitter" buckwheat, for the obvious reason. It's also considered, in some cultures, a healthful herb and this is the type of buckwheat used in special herbal teas.
Tatary buckwheat is also used in savory and sweet crackers, cookies, and cakes offered in Asian markets. Thousands of miles away, in New Brunswick, silverskin (silverhull) buckwheat is ground to make flour for the ploye, a specialty buckwheat pancake.
Generally, though, people, especially in America, mean common buckwheat when they don't specify which buckwheat type they mean. In the 19th century, most Americans consumed buckwheat flour in their daily diets but technology changes in how flour was milled and new marketing strategies for competing crops around 1900 drove buckwheat out of the marketplace in favor of wheat, corn, and rye. Since the renewed interest in health foods during the 1970s, the buckwheat pancake has re-appeared on some breakfast tables.
Recently, the needs for gluten-free and vegan options have popularized buckwheat again. Buckwheat is a pseudo-grain, meaning it's used as a grain but it doesn't belong to any of the grain families. It is free of gluten, and it has plant protein needed by those who eat vegan fare.
Home gardeners find buckwheat easy to grow, but difficult to mill or grind in any quantity beyond one meal's worth. One maker of home grain mills used to make a buckwheat processing attachment but this is no longer offered. I'm working on a system that ordinary people can use at home; see the page about milling and grinding buckwheat for developments with that project.
Some people grow buckwheat in the garden as a cover crop to hold soil in place between cycles of other crops, and/or as a living green mulch which suppresses weeds and conserves moisture and/or a compost which feeds garden soil with nitrogen and other valuable nutrients.
Beekeepers, both small-scale and commercial, grow fields of buckwheat because the clusters of white flowers attract bees, and a specialized honey can be made in hives where buckwheat flower pollen has been gathered by the bees.
The same quality which makes buckwheat kernels hard to turn into flour -- a tough hull -- has made this crop a boon to the natural pillow industry. In Japan, where soba noodles are a staple, the hulls cast off during the process of making buckwheat flour are sold to pillow-makers. Buckwheat hull pillows are lightweight, with a filling which both supports the weight of the head comfortably and which resists dust mites.
For those unsure about the value of adding buckwheat to the diet, here's a thought: that might already be happening without you realizing it! For example, buckwheat flour is a major ingredient in gluten-free mixes for pancakes and bread.
Also, for those like me who can eat gluten, products labeled as "multigrain" often have buckwheat as an ingredient, though buckwheat's not technically a grain. For instance, there are at least two brands of 12-grain bread which include buckwheat flour.
Personally, I like the "tang" which gives buckwheat its distinctive flavor. But for those who don't enjoy it as much, there are benefits to adding a smaller proportion of buckwheat flour to other flours, whether in baking or when using a premixed product like pancake mix.
When cooking or baking, I throw 1/3 or 1/2 cup buckwheat flour into the bowl with the measured-out dry ingredients, then add a little more water to make up for the extra flour. When the food's on the table, I get no complaints. I've added a bit of healthy fiber and a lot of vitamins, including B-1 for strong muscles and healthy nerves.
This page is an overview of buckwheat's history and uses. The other pages on this site go into specific topics in more detail.
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