From TheBestLinks.com
- This article is about the food crop. An article about the fictional character is at Buckwheat (character).
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum common buckwheat, and Fagopyrum tataricum Tatar buckwheat) are plants in the genus Fagopyrum (sometimes classified as Polygonum) in the family Polygonaceae. They are often counted as grains, though unlike most grains they are not true grasses. Buckwheat is thus not related to true Wheat.
Common buckwheat was probably first cultivated in China. Besides the seeds, from which buckwheat flour is produced, buckwheat is also a good honey plant. The flour is made into noodles (including soba) and into buckwheat groats, often known as "kasha". Buckwheat contains rutin, a medicinal chemical.
Buckwheat pancakes, sometimes raised with yeast, are eaten in several countries. They are known as blinis in Russia, galettes in France (especially in Brittany) and ployes in Acadia. Similar pancakes were a common food in American pioneer days. They are light and foamy. The buckwheat flour gives them an agreeably earthy, mildly mushroom-like taste.
Cultivation of buckwheat has declined sharply in the US. Over a million acres where harvested in 1918. By 1954 that had declined to 150,000 acres, and by 1964, the last year that production statistics where gathered, only 50,000 acres where grown. In 1970 Russia grew an estimated 4.5 million acres of buckwheat.
The name 'buckwheat' comes from its triangular seeds, which resemble the much larger seeds of beech.
References
McGregor, S.E. 1976. Insect Pollination Of Cultivated Crop Plants, chap. 9 Crop Plants and Exotic Plants. U.S. Department of Agrigulture. As found on the website of the Carl Hayden Bee Research Center of the USDA Agrigultural Research Service.[1] (http://gears.tucson.ars.ag.gov/book/chap9/buckwheat.html)
da:Boghvede (Fagopyrum)
de:Buchweizen
fr:Sarrasin
ja:ソバ
nl:Boekweit
pl:Gryka
wa:Bokete
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