Buckwheat

Appearance

Despite its name, buckwheat is not closely related to wheat. It is not a cereal, nor is it even a member of the grass family. Buckwheat is related to sorrel, knotweed, and rhubarb, and is known as a pseudocereal because its seeds' culinary use is the same as cereals, owing to their composition of complex carbohydrates.

Naming

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. The word may be a translation of Middle Dutch "boecweite": "boec", "beech" and "weite", wheat, or maybe a native formation on the same model as the Dutch word.

Evolution

The wild ancestor of common buckwheat is "F. esculentum" ssp. "ancestrale". "F. homotropicum" is interfertile with "F. esculentum" and the wild forms have a common distribution, in Yunnan, a southwestern province of China. The wild ancestor of tartary buckwheat is "F. tataricum" ssp. "potanini".

Common buckwheat was domesticated and first cultivated in inland Southeast Asia, possibly around 6000 BCE, and from there spread to Central Asia and Tibet, and then to the Middle East and Europe. Domestication most likely took place in the western Yunnan region of China.

The oldest remains found in China so far date to "circa" 2600 BCE, while buckwheat pollen found in Japan dates from as early as 4000 BCE. It is the world's highest-elevation domesticate, being cultivated in Yunnan on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau or on the plateau itself. Buckwheat was one of the earliest crops introduced by Europeans to North America. Dispersal around the globe was complete by 2006, when a variety developed in Canada was widely planted in China. In India, buckwheat flour is known as "kuttu ka atta" and has long been culturally associated with many festivals like, Shivratri, Navaratri and Janmashtami. On the day of these festivals, food items made only from buckwheat are consumed.

Uses

Buckwheat is used as an ingredient in many "grain free" dog treats and foods. It can also be used in microwaveable heat-retaining slippers and pillows.