What is buckwheat?

Buckwheat likely sounds scary if you’re on the gluten-free diet. But despite its name, buckwheat is not wheat. It’s gluten-free, and it’s safe for people with gluten sensitivity.

While many people think that buckwheat is a cereal grain, it is actually a fruit seed that is related to rhubarb and sorrel making it a suitable substitute for grains for people who are sensitive to wheat or other grains that contain protein glutens. Buckwheat flowers are very fragrant and are attractive to bees that use them to produce a special, strongly flavored, dark honey

For processing into food, buckwheat seeds must first be dehulled. The remaining seed material, called groats, can be ground into flour. Roasted buckwheat groats are known as kasha.

There are plenty of good reasons to eat buckwheat. It’s high in protein and B vitamins and rich in phosphorus, potassium, iron, calcium, and lysine. Buckwheat is also a good source of fiber: a one-cup serving of cooked buckwheat groats provides 17 grams of dietary fiber (you should get 25 to 35 grams of fiber every day).
It also contains 22 grams of protein.

BUCKWHEAT CREPES

This type of galette is a large, thin pancake mostly associated with the region of Brittany, where it replaced at times bread as basic food, but it is eaten countrywide.

Buckwheat was introduced as a crop suitable to impoverished soils and buckwheat pancakes were known in other regions where this crop was cultivated, such as Limousin or Auvergne.

It is frequently garnished with egg, meat, fish, cheese, cut vegetables, apple slices, berries, or similar ingredients.

One of the most popular varieties is a galette covered with grated Emmental cheese, a slice of ham, and an egg cooked on the galette. In France this is known as a galette complète (a complete galette).

Another variety is a hot sausage wrapped in a galette (called galette saucisse, a tradition of Rennes, Brittany) and eaten like a hot dog.