Buckwheat

Buckwheat is not a grain. It is actually a plant from an entirely different family known as Polygonaceae. Sorrel and rhubarb are also members of this family.
Nutritionally, buckwheat belongs to the grain family.
It is native from Central Asia and arrived in Europe during the Middle Ages.
Now it is nowhere more popular than in Russia.
The leaves are heart-shaped, the flowers white or yellow-white, and the seeds black and triangular.
Buckwheat has a strong nutlike flavor, maybe the most distinctive of any grain.
It is rich in the amino acid lysine.

Forms of Amaranth

Buckwheat groats: these are the crushed, hulled kernels with their inedible black shells removed. They are either white (unroasted) or brown (roasted)
Buckwheat grits: they are finely ground grains
Flour

Basic Cooking Instruction
Flour is the form of buckwheat the more used. Americans use it for pancakes, Bretons for crêpes, Italians for noodles and Japanese for soba.

Composition

**Values for 100 g**
	Cooked buckwheat groats	Buckwheat flour
Proteins	3.4 g	12.5 g
Fats	0.6 g	3 g
Carbohydrates	20 g	71 g
Fibre	3 g	10 g
Main nutrients
Calcium	7 mg	41 mg
Iron	0.8 mg	4 mg
Potassium	88 mg	577 mg
Phosphorus	70 mg	337 mg
Zinc	0.6 mg	3 mg
Magnesium	51 mg	251 mg
Thiamine	0.04 mg	0.4 mg
Riboflavin	0.04 mg	0.2 mg
Niacin	0.9 mg	6 mg

Recipe

Blinis
300 g of buckwheat flour 300 g of wheat flour 20 g of baking powder 3 glasses of soymilk 4 eggs 40 g of fresh cream 40 g of sunflower oil Salt	Mix buckwheat flour and add the milk and the baking powder. Let swell during 2 hours in a place at 20 degres centigrade. Add the wheat flour, the egg yolks and the cream. Add the egg whites beaten in snow; salt and let rest during 30 minutes. Cook blinis in a skillet.