Buckwheat, common name for certain members of the Polygonaceae, a family of herbs and shrubs found chiefly in north temperate areas and having a characteristic pungent juice containing oxalic acid. Species native to the United States are most common in the West. The largest genus of the family, Polygonum (or Persicaria), contains the knotweeds and the smartweeds, found in many parts of the world. The common smartweed (P. hydropiper) is an annual sometimes called water pepper for its acrid quality. Several species of the dock genus (Rumex) are sorrels (the common name used also for the similarly acrid but unrelated oxalis). The garden, or green, sorrel (R. acetosa) and the sheep, red, or field sorrel (R. acetosella) have long been used in Europe for salads and greens. Among the plants used as potherbs are the patience or spinach dock (R. patientia) and the tanner's dock (R. hymenosepalus); the latter is the source of canaigre, a substance used for tanning. Economically the important members of the family are of the rhubarb genus (Rheum) and the buckwheat genus (Fagopyrum), both native to Asia. Most of the rhubarb cultivated for the edible thick, fleshy leafstalks is R. rhaponticum, called also pieplant and wine plant. Medicinal rhubarb is obtained from this and other species of the genus. The cultivated buckwheat (F. esculentum) has been grown in the Old World since the Middle Ages as a honey plant and for its characteristic three-cornered grain, which is utilized for poultry and stock feed. Buckwheat flour is used in the United States, and eastern Europe; the plant is sown as a cover crop and is a food staple. The genus Eriogonum includes the wild, or yellow, buckwheat (E. alleni), restricted to the Appalachian shale barrens, and many Western species, e.g., the desert trumpet (E. inflatum), a desert flower of arid plains and plateaus. The interesting genus Koenigia has only one species, but it is found in the Arctic, in the Himalayas, and in Tierra del Fuego. Buckwheat is classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Magnoliopsida, order Polygonales, family Polygonaceae.
Common names:almindelig boghvede,ble noir,bokkveite,bokvete,bovete,Buchweizen,buck wheat,buckwheat,echter Buchweizen,fagopiro
Species:
Fagopyrum esculentum
Fagopyrum tataricum
Synonym(s): common buckwheat, fagopyrum, Polygonum fagopyrum; brank; beechwhea,Brank. Beechwheat. Le Ble noir. Sarrasin. Buchweizen. Heidekorm. French. Wheat. Saracen Corn.
Synonyms Fagopyrum sagittatum Gilib., Polygonum fagopyrum L.
Definition:
Noun 1. Fagopyrum - buckwheat; in some classifications included in the genus Polygonum
genus Fagopyrum:dicot genus, magnoliopsid genus - genus of flowering plants having two cotyledons (embryonic leaves) in the seed which usually appear at germination
buckwheat family, family Polygonaceae, Polygonaceae - a family of plants of order Polygonales chiefly of the north temperate zone; includes the buckwheats
Polygonum fagopyrum
n : or member of genus Fagopyrum; annual Asian plant with clusters of small pinkish white flowers and small edible triangular seeds which are used whole or ground into flour [syn: buckwheat, Polygonum fagopyrum, Fagopyrum esculentum]
Part Used:The fruit.
Habitat:A native of Northern or Central Asia. Largely cultivated in West China.
a. An annual Asian plant (Fagopyrum esculentum) having clusters of small whitish or pinkish flowers and small, seedlike, triangular fruits. b. The edible fruits of this plant, used either whole or ground into flour.
Any of several similar or related plants.
The Buckwheat is not really a native plant, and when found apparently wild in this country, it is only on cultivated land, where it is grown as food for pheasants, which are very partial to it. One of its local names, 'French Wheat,' points to then recognition of the fact that it is a foreign grain.
It is a native of Central Asia, cultivated in China and other Eastern countries as a bread-corn and was first brought to Europe from Asia by the Crusaders, and hence in France is called 'Saracen Corn.'
It is a herbaceous plant, with a knotted stem a foot or two in height, round and hollow, generally green, but sometimes tinged with red, lateral branches growing out of the joints, which give off alternately from opposite sides, heart-shaped, or somewhat arrowshaped leaves, and from July to September, spreading panicles of numerous light freshcoloured flowers, which are perfumed. They are dimorphic, i.e. there are two forms of flowers, one with long styles and short stamens, the other with short styles and long stamens and are very attractive to bees. It is frequently cultivated in the Middle United States of Arnerica and also in Brabant as food for bees, and an immense quantity of Buckwheat honey is also collected in Russia. It gives a particularly pleasant flavour to honey.
The nut (so-called 'seed') has a dark brown, tough rind, enclosing the kernel or seed, and is three-sided in form, with sharp angles, resembling the triangular Beech-nut, hence the name of the plant, Buckwheat, a corruption of Boek-weit, the Dutch form of the name, adopted with its culture from the Dutch, meaning 'Beech-wheat' (German Buchweizen), a translation of the Latin name Fagopyrum (Latin fagus, a beech).
By some botanists, the Buckwheat is separated from the Polygonums, receiving the name Fagopyrum esculentum (Moench).
The nut contains a floury endosperm, and though rarely employed in this country as human food is extensively cultivated for that purpose in Northern Europe, North America (where it also goes by the name of Indian Wheat) and in India and the East.
Buckwheat flour is occasionally used for bread, but more frequently employed for cakes, which when baked have an agreeable taste, with a darkish, somewhat violet colour and are a national dish throughout America in the winter. They are baked on gridirons and eaten with maple syrup as breakfast cakes. The meal of Buckwheat is also baked into crumpets, which are popular among Dutch children and are said to be nutritious and easily digested.
By the Hindus, Buckwheat, which is extensively cultivated in the Himalayas, is eaten on 'bart' or fast days, being one of the lawful foods for such occasions. Polygonum cymosum (Meism.), the Chinese perennial Buckwheat, and P. Tartaricum Ge.), the Tartary or Rough Buckwheat, also constitute an important source of flour in the East.Its young leaves are eaten as a vegetable and its stalks are used to feed cattle.
In the Russian Army, Buckwheat groats are served out as part of the soldiers' rations and cooked with butter, tallow or hemp-seed oil. In Germany it forms an ingredient in pottage, puddings and other food.
Beer may be brewed from the grain, and by distillation it yields an excellent spirit, in Danzig much used in the preparation of cordial waters.
The blossoms may be used for dyeing a brown colour.
Phytochemicals and Constituents:
The leaves have been found by Schunch to contain a crystalline colouring principle (1 part in a thousand) identical with the Rutin or Rutic acid previously discovered by Weiss in the leaves of the common Rue and probably existing in the leaves of the Holly.
The seeds contain starch, sugar, gum, and various matters soluble in alcohol. A small amount of the glucoside Indican has been found.
Medicinal Action and Uses:Astringent, acrid:
An infusion of the herb has been used in erysipelas, and a poultice made of the flour and buttermilk for restoring the flow of milk in nurses.
The breakfast cakes are very heating, and in many people cause severe itching, (The Buckwheat used in America to-day is so refined that these symptoms are not liable to occur. - EDITOR.) felt chiefly after removing the clothing at night, with an eruption of vesicles. The faeces may become so glutinous that expulsion is difficult.
History of Buckwheat:
Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum'' common buckwheat, and Fagopyrum tataricum Tatar buckwheat) are plants in the genus Fagopyrum (sometimes classified as Polygonum) in the family Polygonaceae. They are often counted as grains, though unlike most grains they are not true grasses. Buckwheat is thus not related to true Wheat. Buckwheat is most likely descended from wild buckwheat, though it does not share its vine-like growth habit. Common buckwheat was domesticated and first cultivated in China. It is the world's highest elevation domesticate, being that it was either domesticated in Yunnan on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau or on the Plateau itself. Archaeological remains are rare, the oldest known in China so far date to circa 2600 BC. However, buckwheat pollen is present in Japan as early as 4000 BC suggesting domestication of this plant likely occurred earlier than has been documented archaeologically. Some researchers suggest that Buckwheat was introduced to Europe along the Silk
Road. Various textual documentation suggests an introduction between AD 1300-1400.
Tatar buckwheat was also domesticated in the same region. While it is unfamiliar to the West, it is still eaten in the Himalayan region today. Buckwheat is one of the few seeds consumed as flour today that does not belong to the grass family (Poaceae), and it is, thus, not actually a grain. Instead the seed is an achene, more similar to a sunflower seed, with a hard outer shell and soft innner meat. Besides the seeds, from which buckwheat flour is produced, buckwheat is also a good honey plant. In Asia, the flour is made into noodles (including soba). While in Europe it is more commonly made into buckwheat groats, often known as "kasha". Buckwheat contains rutin, a medicinal chemical, used for vascular disorders. Buckwheat pancakes, sometimes raised with yeast, are eaten in several countries. They are known as blinis in Russia, galettes in France (especially in Brittany) and ployes in Acadia. Similar pancakes were a common food in American pioneer days. They are light and foamy. The buckwheat flour gives them an agreeably earthy, mildly mushroom-like taste. In the past buckwheat cultivation was also used in orchards to increase the rate of pollination. Cultivation of buckwheat has declined sharply in the US. Over a million acres (4,000 km2) were harvested in 1918. By 1954 that had declined to 150,000 acres (600 km2), and by 1964, the last year that production statistics were gathered, only 50,000 acres (200 km2) were grown. In 1970 Russia grew an estimated 4.5 million acres (18,000 km2) of buckwheat. The name buckwheat or "beech wheat" comes from its triangular seeds, which resemble the much larger seeds of the beech nut from the beech tree, and the fact that it is used like wheat. In the 1970s and 1980s, General Mills produced a sweetened, maple-flavored breakfast cereal made from buckwheat, which was marketed under the name Buc-Wheats.
Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum common buckwheat, and Fagopyrum tataricum Tatar buckwheat) are plants in the genus Fagopyrum (sometimes classified as Polygonum) in the family Polygonaceae. They are often counted as grains, though unlike most grains they are not true grasses. Buckwheat is thus not related to true wheat. Buckwheat is most likely descended from wild buckwheat, though it does not share its vine-like growth habit.
Common buckwheat was domesticated and first cultivated in southwest Asia, possibly around 6000 BC, and from there spread westwards to Europe and eastwards to Central Asia and then into Tibet and China. It is documented in Europe in the Balkans by at least the Middle Neolithic (circa 4000 BC) and the oldest known remains in China so far date to circa 2600 BC. However, buckwheat pollen is present in China as early as 4000 BC suggesting either that (i) domestication of this plant occurred earlier than has been documented archaeologically; (ii) it spread more rapidly than previously acknowledged, or; (iii) there were two or more domestication events. It is the world's highest elevation domesticate, being that it was cultivated in Yunnan on the edge of the Tibetan Plateau or on the Plateau itself.
Tatar buckwheat was domesticated in east Asia. While it is unfamiliar to the West, it is still eaten in the Himalayan region today.
Buckwheat is a short season crop that does well on poor, somewhat acidic soils, but the soil must be well drained. Too much fertilizer, especially nitrogen, will greatly reduce yields. In hot climates, it can only be grown by sowing late in the season, so that it will bloom in cooler weather. Buckwheat is sometimes used as a green manure, as a plant for erosion control, or as wildlife cover and feed.
Common Buckwheat in flowerBuckwheat is one of the few seeds consumed as flour today that does not belong to the grass family (Poaceae), and it is, thus, not actually a grain. Instead the seed is an achene, more similar to a sunflower seed, with a hard outer shell and soft inner meat. The flour is noticeably darker than wheat flour, and is known (exaggeratedly) as "bl¨¦ noir" ("black barley") in French. Besides the seeds, from which buckwheat flour is produced, buckwheat is also a good honey plant, producing a dark, mellow varietal honey. In Asia, the flour is made into noodles (including soba). In Europe it is more commonly made into buckwheat groats, often known as "kasha". Buckwheat contains rutin, a medicinal chemical, used for vascular disorders; it is naturally devoid of gluten, and can thus be eaten by people who react adversely to gluten.
Buckwheat pancakes, sometimes raised with yeast, are eaten in several countries. They are known as blinis in Russia, galettes in France (especially in Brittany) and ployes in Acadia. Similar pancakes were a common food in American pioneer days. They are light and foamy. The buckwheat flour gives them an agreeably earthy, mildly mushroom-like taste.
Unlike the widely consumed seeds, Buckwheat greens are toxic. Eaten in sufficient quantities, the greens can induce an ensemble of symptoms, primarily fagopyrism, an extreme sensitization of the skin to sunlight. Light pigmented livestock and fair skinned people are particularly susceptible.
In the past buckwheat cultivation was also used in orchards to increase the rate of pollination. Cultivation of buckwheat has declined sharply in the US. Over a million acres (4,000 km2) were harvested in 1918. By 1954 that had declined to 150,000 acres (600 km2), and by 1964, the last year that production statistics were gathered, only 50,000 acres (200 km2) were grown. In 1970 Russia grew an estimated 4.5 million acres (18,000 km2) of buckwheat.
The name 'buckwheat' or "beech wheat" comes from its triangular seeds, which resemble the much larger seeds of the beech nut from the beech tree, and the fact that it is used like wheat.
In the 1970s and 1980s, General Mills produced a sweetened, maple-flavored breakfast cereal made from buckwheat, which was marketed under the name Buc-Wheats.
Buckwheat is known in French as both "ble noir" (as mentioned previously) and "sarrasin".
Buckwheat or Brank (Fagopyrum esculentum or Polygonum Fagopyrum) is a plant of the family Polygonacea, with a branched herbaceous stem, somewhat arrow- shaped leaves, and purplish-white flowers, growing to a height of about one meter, and bearing a small triangular grain of a brownish-black hue. It is cultivated in the far-east as a bread-corn and in Europe as a feed for farm animals.
Buckwheat is loaded with nutrients, especially protein, and it has a nutty, earthy flavor. It's most commonly ground into a dark, gritty flour and used to make everything from pancakes to soba noodles. Eastern Europeans also like their buckwheat crushed into small groats, which they toast in oil and use to make side dishes and breakfast cereals.
Lore:Among some Hindu cultures, buckwheat is one of the few foods which may be eaten during certain religious holidays.
Buckwheat classification:
Chinese Buckwheat
Yulin Origin
Chinese Buckwheat
Ningxia and/or Gansu Origin
Chinese Inner Mongolia
Buckwheat Chifeng
and / or Tongliao Origin
Hulled Buckwheat
(Buckwheat Kernels)
Buckwheat Hulls
Chinese Wild Buckwheat
Farms and Facilities
Buckwheat:
Buckwheat is a grain that has been eaten for hundreds of years in the Far East. China, Russia, Korea, and other Asian countries have long enjoyed noodles made from buckwheat flour. Buckwheat can also be used for a variety of baked products, including pancakes, breads, muffins, crackers, bagels, cookies, and tortillas among others. Buckwheat is thought of as a cereal, but is actually an herb of the buckwheat family, Polygonaceae. The triangular seeds are used to make the flour after being removed from the husk. In one pound of raw buckwheat there are 1,520 calories. The composition of our buckwheat flour is approximately: 63% carbohydrate, 11.7% protein, 2.4% fat, 9.9% fiber, 11% water and 2% minerals.
Special Foods!TM buckwheat flour is a raw flour. The taste of buckwheat is light and bland. Buckwheat pancakes have a nice taste, and a slightly rougher texture than conventional pancakes. The muffins and breads are dark brown, and light and airy in consistency. The muffins and breads are dark brown, and light and airy in consistency. Buckwheat bagels are beautiful and have a wonderful texture and composition. All of Special Foods!TM buckwheat products contain no other grains or milk, eggs, or sugar of any kind.
Buckweet Commodities:
Commodity:Buckwheat.(black and big size)
Origin:Inner-Mongolia
Supplying capacity:merchandise on hand
Packing of 20-feet container:20mt
Specification: max1% admixture,max15% moisture ,max2% bitter buckwheat,max2% imperfect grains
Commodity:Buckwheat(Green and big size)
Origin: Inner-Mongolia
Supplying capacity: merchandise on hand
Packing of 20-feet container: 20mt
Commodity:Buckwheat kernel
Origin: Inner-Mongolia
Description: Processed with buckwheat from Inner-Mongolia which was specially picked up.
Specification:max0.1% admixture,max6% broken ,max14% moisture
Commodity:Roasted Buckwheat kernel
Origin: Inner-Mongolia
Description: It is processed with buckwheat from Inner-Mongolia which was specially picked up,and very popular in Russia at present .We can supply the goods as you request,and the total turnover is 100mt per day.
Commodity:Buckwheat Hulls
Origin:Inner-Mongolia
Packing of 20-feet container:4.5mt
Specification: max0.5% admixture,max13.5% moisture ,more than 85% whole hulls buckwheat,max3% broken
Other Species and Buckwheat Family:
The FALSE BUCKWHEAT or Arrow-leaved Tear Thumb, is Polygonum sagittarum (Linn.), a North American plant that has become naturalized in County Kerry, Ireland.
It is an annual, with a rough stem, 6 inches to 2 feet high, bearing turned-back prickles. The leaves are oblong-ovate to arrow-shaped and the flowers white, in bloom from July to October.
It has been used with success in nephritic colic, relieving the pains caused by gravel.
The CLIMBING BUCKWHEAT or Black Bindweed, also called Bearbind and Cornbind, is Polygonum Convolvulus (Linn.), a troublesome climbing cornfield weed, which occurs indifferently in all soils.
Its stems are 1 to 3 feet long, angular, twining or trailing, bearing leaves 1 to 3 inches long, from heart-shaped to arrowshaped. The flowers are very small, in loose axillary spikes, about four together, greenishwhite, often tinged with red, and are insectpollinated, containing nectar secreted in glands near the base of the stamens. The fruits are three-angled, bearing a resemblance to those of Buckwheat.
It is largely distributed by the seeds being sown with those of the crop among which it has grown. Spraying as for Charlock (with solutions of copper-, iron- or ammonium sulphate) will largely destroy this weed in cereals. It may be injurious to animals, owing to mechanical injury from the seeds when fed with corn, horses are said to have been killed in this way.
Varieties:
buckwheat grits = buckwheat cereal = cream of buckwheat Notes: These are finely ground buckwheat groats that cook very quickly. They're commonly used as a breakfast cereal. Substitutes: barley grits OR hominy grits
buckwheat groats = unroasted buckwheat groats = raw buckwheat groats = whole white buckwheat groats. Notes: These are buckwheat kernels that are stripped of their inedible outer coating and then crushed into smaller pieces. Unprocessed white groats are slightly bitter, so before you cook them it's a good idea to toast them in oil for several minutes until they're rust-colored. This removes the bitterness and brings out a pleasant, nutty flavor. If you don't want to do this yourself, you can buy already roasted groats, called kasha. Substitutes: kasha (similar texture, nuttier flavor) OR millet OR amaranth OR quinoa
kasha = kasza = roasted buckwheat groats = toasted buckwheat groats Pronunciation: KAH-shuh Notes: This is the Russian name for buckwheat groats that have been toasted in oil to remove buckwheat's natural bitterness and to bring out a sweeter, nuttier flavor. They come whole or crushed into a coarse, medium, or fine grain. Substitutes: buckwheat groats (Untoasted groasts have a milder, more bitter flavor compared to kasha. You can convert them into kasha yourself by cooking them in oil until they're rust colored.) OR rice
unhulled buckwheat groats Notes: These are used for making sprouts.
Cultivation:
It is sown in May or June and ripens rapidly, thriving in the poorest soil. The flowers appear about July and the seeds ripen in October, but so tender are the plants that a single night's frost will destroy a whole crop. As a grian, Buckwheat is chiefly cultivated in England to supply food for pheasants and to feed poultry, which devour the seeds with avidity and thrive on it - hence one of its local names: Fat Hen. Mixed with bran chaff or grain, its seeds are sometimes given to horses, either whole or broken. When used as food for cattle, the hard angular rind must first be removed. The meal is considered specially good for fattening pigs: 8 bushels of Buckwheat have been said to go as far as 12 bushels of barleymeal and a bushel of the seeds to go further than 2 bushels of oats, though all farmers do not quite agree as to the superior food value of Buckwheat. If it is given to pigs at first in too large quantities, they will show symptoms of intoxication. As compared with the principal cereal grains, it is poor in nitrogenous substances and fat, its nutritious properties are greatly inferior to wheat, though as a food it ranks much higher than rice; but the rapidity and the ease with which it can be grown renders it a fit crop for very poor, badly-tilled land which will produce scarcely anything else, its culture, compared with that of other grain, being attended with little expense.
When grown by the preservers of game as a food for pheasants, it is often left standing, as it affords both food and shelter to the birds during the winter. With some farmers it is the practice to sow Buckwheat for the purpose only of ploughing it into the ground as a manure for the land. The best time for ploughing it in is when it is in full blossom, allowing the land to rest till it decomposes.
Whilst green, it serves as food for sheep and oxen, and mixed with other provender it may also with advantage be given to horses. If sown in April, two green crops may be procured during the season.
The best mode of harvesting this grain is said to be by pulling it out of the ground like flax, stripping off the seeds with the hand and collecting these into aprons or cloths tied round the waist.
POLYGONACEAE - BUCKWHEAT FAMILY:
Fagopyrum sagittatum Gilib. BUCKWHEAT
Polygonella articulata (L.) Meisn. COAST JOINTWEED
Polygonum achoreum Blake. BLUE KNOT- WEED
Polygonum amphibium L. var. stipulaceum (Coleman) Fernald. HARTWRIGHT'S SMARTWEED
Polygonum arifolium L. HALBERED-LEAVED TEAR-THUMB
Polygonum aviculare L. COMMON KNOTWEED
Polygonum aviculare L. var. angustissimum Meisn. NARROW- LEAVED KNOTWEED
Polygonum aviculare L. var. vegetum Ledeb. STOUT KNOTWEED
Polygonum cilinode Michx. FRINGED BLACK BINDWEED
Polygonum Convolvulus L. BLACK BINDWEED
Polygonum Hydropiper L. COMMON SMARTWEED
Polygonum lapathifolium L. DOCK-LEAVED SMARTWEED
Polygonum lapathifolium L. var. salicifolium Sibth. WOOLLY DOCK-LEAVED SMARTWEED
Polygonum pensylvanicum L. var. Iaevigatum Fernald. SMOOTH PENNSYLVANIA SMARTWEED
Polygonum Persicaria L. LADY'S THUMB
Polygonum punctatum Ell. DOTTED SMARTWEED
Polygonum sagittatum L. ARROW-LEAVED TEAR-THUMB
Polygonum scabrum Moench. GLANDULAR LADY'S THUMB
Polygonum scandens L. CLIMBING FALSE BUCKWHEAT
Polygonum tenue Michx. SLENDER KNOTWEED
Rehum Rhaponticum L. GARDEN RHUBARB
Rumex acetosella L. FIELD OR SHEEP SORREL
Rumex altissimus Wood. TALL DOCK
Rumex crispus L. CURLED DOCK
Rumex domesticus Hartm. DOMESTIC DOCK
Rumex maritimus L. var. fueginus (Phil.) Dusen. GOLDEN DOCK
Rumex mexicanus Meissn. PALE OR WILLOW-LEAVED DOCK
Rumex orbiculatus A. Gray. GREAT WATER DOCK
Scientific References:
1.How to Use Buckwheat and its extracts?
Claims & Warning:
Claims: Information this web site presented is meant for Nutritional Benefit and as an educational starting point only, for use in maintenance and promotion good health in cooperation with a common knowledge base reference...Furthermore,it based solely on the traditional and historic use or legend of a given herb from the garden of Adonis. Although every effort has been made to ensure its accurate, please note that some info may be outdated by more recent scientific developments......
Pharmakon Warning: The order of knowledge is not the transparent order of forms and ideas,as one might be tempted retrospectively to interpret it; it is the antidote....(Dissemination,Plato's Pharmacy,II.The Ingredients:Phantasms,Festivals,and Paints;138cf. Jacques Derrida.).
And as it happens,the technique of imitation,along with the production of the simulacrum,has always been in Plato's eyes manifestly magical,thaumaturgical:......and the same things appear bent and straight to those who view them in water and out,or concave and convex,owing to similar errors of vision about colors, and there is obviously every confusion of this sort in our souls.And so scene painting (skiagraphia) in its exploitation of this weakness of four nature falls nothing short of witchcraft (thaumatopoia), and so do jugglery and many other such contrivances.(Republic X,602c-d;cf.also 607c).