Buckwheat is a mainstay of Slovenian cuisine. I am usually sensitive to wheat, so I’ve been pleasantly surprised that buckwheat is easy on my stomach. Turns out that buckwheat is not wheat and is gluten free.
“280 Polygonum fagopyrum L” by Amédée Masclef – Atlas des plantes de France. 1891. Licensed under Public Domain via Wikimedia Commons – https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:280_Polygonum_fagopyrum_L.jpg#/media/File:280_Polygonum_fagopyrum_L.jpg
The buckwheat plant is a cousin of Rhubarb and is not a grain. Find more information about the nutrients of buckwheat at http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=11
My daughter Katie and I are visiting my parents in Portland OR. Today we took a tour of Bob’s Red Mill. They make all kinds of flours, including buckwheat flour. They have a great mill with lots of organic and non-GMO products as well as a huge variety of grains and seeds (buckwheat counts as a seed). Bob’s Red Mill products are available in grocery stores all over the US. Check out their site at http://www.bobsredmill.com/
Katie and Lisa a Bob’s Red Mill sitting on a millstone.
I am really looking forward to using this buckwheat flour next week for my Slovenian food and wine party.
My zaganci didn’t turn out well, though with further research I found out that it is just supposed to be kind of a mush. However, I have high hopes for buckwheat pockets. They are rather like Polish pierogi, but with a buckwheat dough. They can have all sorts of fillings, but the one I chose is a cheese filling. The recipe is at http://homemadeslovenianfood.blogspot.com/2015/09/kozjansko-buckwheat-pockets-kozjansko.html I’m going to substitute gluten free flour for the wheat flour as I have friends who have problems with gluten. I’ll post pictures of the finished product along with my guest’s critique of the taste. Wish me luck in the kitchen this time.
You might be interested to know that the Japanese eat tons of buckwheat, but in the form of “soba” noodles. My mother-in-law actually ran a soba shop of her own for a number of years. They are especially popular in summer, when they are eaten chilled, spread on a mat, sprinkled with laver, and dipped in a soy-sauce-based sauce. Every town is sure to have a soba restaurant. Have you ever eaten soba? There was a program on Slovenia a couple of years ago and the shared liking of buckwheat was the first thing they mentioned.
I haven’t eaten soba, but I will give it a try. I like the taste of Buckwheat and it is good to my stomach, so all around good stuff.