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Buckwheat ( Fagopyrum esculentum) or common buckwheat is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. Buckwheat cultivation originated around the 6th millennium BC in the region of what is now Yunnan in southwestern China. The name "buckwheat" is used for several other species, such as Fagopyrum tataricum, a domesticated food plant raised in Asia.
Despite its name, buckwheat is not closely related to wheat, nor is it a cereal or a member of the Poaceae. It is related to sorrel, Polygonum, and rhubarb. Buckwheat is considered a pseudocereal because the high starch content of the seeds enables buckwheat to be cooked and consumed like a cereal.
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Common buckwheat was domesticated and first cultivated in inland Southeast Asia, possibly around 6000 BC, and from there spread to Central Asia and Tibet, and then to the Middle East and Europe, which it reached by the 15th century. Domestication most likely took place in the western Yunnan region of China.
The oldest remains found in China so far date to 2600 BC, while buckwheat pollen found in Japan dates from as early as 4000 BC. 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.
The buckwheat plant has a branching root system with a primary taproot that reaches deeply into moist soil. It grows tall. Buckwheat has tetrahedral seeds and produces a flower that is usually white, although can also be pink or yellow. Buckwheat branches freely, as opposed to tillering or producing suckers, enabling more complete adaption to its environment than other cereal crops.
Buckwheat is raised for grain where only a brief time is available for growth, either because the buckwheat is an early or a second crop in the season, or because the total growing season is limited. It establishes quickly, which suppresses summer weeds, and can be a reliable cover crop in summer to fit a small slot of warm season. Buckwheat has a growing period of only 10–12 weeks and it can be grown in high latitude or northern areas. Buckwheat is sometimes used as a green manure, as a plant for erosion control or as wildlife cover and feed.
| + Buckwheat production | |
| 1,149,067 | |
| 504,266 | |
| 210,720 | |
| 86,679 | |
| 83,491 | |
| 64,611 | |
| 2,204,015 | |
In 2023, world production of buckwheat was 2.2 million tonnes, led by Russia with 52% of the total, with China and Ukraine as secondary producers (table).
Buckwheat groats are commonly used in western Asia and eastern Europe. The porridge was common, and is often considered the definitive peasant dish. It is made from groats that are cooked with broth to a texture similar to rice or bulgur. The dish was taken to America by Jewish, Ukrainian, Russian, and Polish people immigrants who called it kasha, as it is known today, who mixed it with pasta or used it as a filling for cabbage rolls (stuffed cabbage), , and . Groats were the most widely used form of buckwheat worldwide during the 20th century, eaten primarily in Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, and Poland, called grechka ('Greek grain') in Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Russian languages.
Buckwheat have been eaten in Tibet and northern China for centuries, where the growing season is too short to raise wheat. A wooden press is used to press the dough into hot boiling water when making buckwheat noodles. Old presses found in Tibet and Shanxi share the same basic design features. The Japanese and Koreans may have learned the process of making buckwheat noodles from them.
Buckwheat noodles play a major role in the cuisines of Japan ( soba) and Korea ( naengmyeon, makguksu and memil-guksu). Soba noodles are the subject of deep cultural importance in Japan. The difficulty of making noodles from flour with no gluten has resulted in a traditional art developed around their manufacture by hand. A jelly called memilmuk in Korea is made from buckwheat starch. Local buckwheat variety from Bongpyeong-myeon, Korea, is known as Bongpyeong memil and is a powerful symbol for both cultural and gastronomic reasons.
Noodles also appear in Italy, with pasta di grano saraceno in Apulia region of Southern Italy and pizzoccheri in the Valtellina region of Northern Italy.
Buckwheat are eaten in several countries. They are known as buckwheat blini in Russia, kaletez in France, in Acadia, poffertjes in the Netherlands, boûketes in the Wallonia region of Belgium, kuttu ki puri in India and kachhyamba in Nepal. Similar pancakes were a common food in American pioneer days. They are light and airy when baked. The buckwheat flour gives the pancakes an earthy, mildly mushroom-like taste.
Yeasted patties called hrechanyky are made in Ukraine, whereas across the border, in southeastern Poland, a similar name, hreczanyki (also: hreczki), refers to thick patties of ground pork mixed with cooked buckwheat groats ( kasza gryczana; see above), typically served with a mushroom sauce.
Buckwheat is a permitted sustenance during fasting in several traditions. In India, on Hindu fasting days (Navaratri, Ekadashi, Janmashtami, Maha Shivaratri, etc.), fasting people in northern states of India eat foods made of buckwheat flour. Eating cereals such as wheat or rice is prohibited during such fasting days. While strict Hindus do not even drink water during their fast, others give up cereals and salt and instead eat non-cereal foods such as buckwheat ( kuttu). In the Russian Orthodox tradition, it is eaten on the St. Philip fast.
Buckwheat honey is dark, strong and aromatic. Because it does not complement other honeys, it is normally produced as a monofloral honey.
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