Buckwheat

[ORChick]

Has anyone got any tried and tested recipes with buckwheat? Not buckwheat flour, but buckwheat groats. I've tried a couple of things, and like them well enough, but DH isn't quite sure about this new experiment. I bought some awhile ago, for me while he was away, and now would like to use up what I have. Thanks.

 

[Icu4dzs]

I am soooo glad to see this question as I have been interested in the same question. I have a bit of buckwheat groats in my farm and have wanted to use them, too. My problem is that I don't really know how to remove the hulls effectively to leave the groats behind and separate the hulls.
I have tried sprouting them as that is one of the best ways to eat such things IMHO but the hulls are still difficult to separate.

Buckwheat is an old grain. Folks have used it in the past. How did they do it? If anyone has any idea PLEASE let me know how to do it. The same is true for some other things such as mung beans, peas, alfalfa seeds and the like. I make salads with these sprouts and have a rather significant percentage of sprout loss trying to separate the hulls from the sprouts. I have tried floating them on water and that is minimally sucessful with high percentages of loss.

Is there any other way to separate those hulls without using water?

 

[freemotion]

This is FAR more delicious than it sounds:

Rinse some buckwheat (maybe a half pound?) well in a colander. Put some grease in a hot sauce pan and put the buckwheat in it, and immediately pour in a beaten egg or two. Scramble the egg with the buckwheat until it is dry. Then add some broth to cover the buckwheat as if you were cooking rice. Simmer on low until the broth is absorbed, adding more as needed, cooking for 15-20 minutes or until the buckwheat is done. Serve as a grain dish.

I liked to make it with several eggs and add cooked, crumbled sausage to it at the end and serve it as a main dish or as a wonderful breakfast.

I haven't had it in a while, but thanks for the reminder. It didn't agree with my digestion, but I will try it again after soaking/fermenting it overnight and see how it goes. This is so delicious, it would be worth adding it back into my diet if I can tolerated it with the phytates removed by soaking/fermenting.

 

[stano40]

Being from a Polish family I grew up with buckwheat groats as a breakfast cereal.

My mother would prepare it like you do oatmeal and as my breakfast I would just add sugar and milk.

It's a strong taste but I really enjoyed it.

Buckwheat groats was also used in sausage making, stews and in soups much like barley to thicken.

bob

 

[Henrietta23]

My dad has made a breakfast cereal for himself for years using it. I can't remember if he uses the pressure cooker now or not. He used to just cook it in liquid slowly. I think he used millet with it. We used to call it Dad's bird food! But he's been eating it for about 25 years and just turned 83 two days ago. Oh, he mixed it with fruit.

 

[stano40]

It's great with dried prunes or apricots. We called the buckwheat groats Kasha.

bob

 

[ORChick]

Thanks all! Several good ideas to get started with. The recipe I started this whole buckwheat thing with was this one, and I liked it a lot; DH not so much. Of course, maybe I just liked this guy's name: Le Cordon Jew

http://www.soulandgone.com/2008/05/22/le-cordon-jew-лапшу-да-каша-пища-наша/

I quite like Japanese buckwheat noodles/soba, and buckwheat pancakes/blini are also good. Can anyone tell me if buckwheat flour is usually made from the roasted, or unroasted grains?
And has anyone grown buckwheat? (For future information, in case DH decides he likes it )

Maybe I'm getting ahead of myself here - perhaps I should use up the 2 pounds I have on hand before deciding to grow the stuff

 

[Mattemma]

I grow buckwheat for beneficials and soil nutrition. I do collect the seed,but have yet to eat any. I like the plants.

 

[stano40]

Awesome looking plant. I've been wanting to plant it this year.

How do you separate the seed from the hull?

I'll have to order buckwheat seed from Johnny's Seed's.

Here's a pretty good article on Mother Earth News about growing Buckwheat.

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1986-05-01/Buckwheat.aspx

bob

 

[Icu4dzs]

So forgive me for asking, but how do you get those hulls away from the groats?